Write a Story, Go to Jail
by Smitty91
Summary: With the Internet comes joy, friendship, comfort, encouragement, and pleasure. But with it comes discouragement, hatred, war, hurt, pain, and trouble, a lesson that Theodore learns all too well.
1. Ms Kerr

Chapter 1: Ms. Kerr

_September 2005_

Henry F. Moss Middle School. That was the name of the school that Theodore would be attending for the next two years. The chubby chipmunk stood at the front entrance of the school, staring up at the letters that formed the name of the school above its entrance. With the straps of his backpack slung over his shoulders and a couple of notebooks and a binder tucked under one arm, he lowered his gaze to see several students filing into the school, all chatting away with friends that they had known since elementary school. For now, he had no friends. At least not yet.

He looked over his shoulder to see Dave exiting the school's parking lot with Alvin and Simon in the back. They were headed towards Warren Central High School, the school that both of them would be attending for the next four years, and it was the school that Theodore would attend in two years, provided that he passed the eighth grade.

Sighing heavily, Theodore made his way into the school, getting a few odd glances from his peers during the process. The weird looks that he was receiving from his fellow students was nothing new to him. Anytime he or his brothers attended a new school, they would be subjected to angry looks and curious glances, as if it was a way of informing him and his brothers that they weren't welcome at the school, as if chipmunks attending school was something out of the ordinary, something unheard of. Despite the odd looks that he was getting, the chubby chipmunk in the green sweater succeeded in entering the school unharmed. His sneakers squeaked as he walked.

He figured that the others were afraid of harming him due to his size. Apparently, the bullies feared that if they were to punch him in the wrong spot, they would only end up causing him to die an untimely death. While he was very small for a child his age, he liked the idea of being feared since it meant that he would hopefully get through a school year without being harassed by someone who was not only bigger than him, but also tougher. This thought allowed a smile to creep across his face while his hands tightly squeezed the shoulder straps of his backpack. The only thing that caused the smile to fade were his squeaking shoes It was annoying.

He received his schedule and a map of the school from the main office. He had thirty minutes to himself. There were three places that he could go to: the library, the gym, or the cafeteria. He chose the cafeteria. He was hungry and he hadn't gotten a chance to eat anything due to the fact that he and his brothers had been rushing to get to school on time. He hoped that the cafeteria served good food. Otherwise he'd have to resort to bringing snacks to eat to keep himself from starving during the day.

He scanned his schedule as he went down the hall that led to the cafeteria. All the main courses were printed on the piece of paper. The only elective that he had was P.E. He hated P.E. At least he had reading for first period and language arts for sixth period, his last class of the day. He didn't know why they had reading and language arts as two separate classes. To him, the two classes went hand-in-hand, just like health and P.E.

There were three doors in the cafeteria: one leading into the room that one got their food, two double doors that showed the line proceeding, and one other door where the students exited the room with their food. Outside the room in which the students got their food were several brown tables with circular blue seats that reminded Theodore of bar stools. With his backpack pressing against his shoulders, he made his way to the line and waited silently.

In some corners of the room, attached to the ceiling, were television sets that were set to different stations. The one nearest to Theodore, one that was located just above a window that showed the school kitchen, was showing an episode of _SpongeBob SquarePants_. Despite the show's vast popularity, Theodore and his brothers hated the award-winning show with a deep passion. To say that the show was one of her least favorite shows would be an understatement. They detested the show and couldn't wait for the day that it would finally come to an end. Sadly, that day seemed a long way off. This caused Theodore to wonder when a decent show would come out.

He walked slowly. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he kept his eyes fixed on the television above him. It was the only thing he could do to keep the time from slowing down. It seemed that the television was helping speed time up. Before he knew it, he was almost in the room so he could get his food, and the episode of _SpongeBob SquarePants _was only halfway over. He turned his neck to the right so he could continue to watch the program, but the constant tilt of his head was causing his neck to ache.

Casting his gaze down to the floor, he rubbed and rotated his neck to drive away the pain that drove through his neck. He sighed in relief once the pain eventually faded away. He took a few steps forward, finally entering the room that contained a line of food. He smiled and licked his lips as the sweet smell of breakfast met his nostrils. To him, he was in paradise. This was what made him happy. This was his heaven.

He grabbed a plate like all the other students he'd seen do before him and began going down the line, following a Hispanic boy as he scanned his choice of items. The possibilities of what he could get seemed endless. There were some scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage biscuits, small packages of cereal with plastic spoons, waffle sticks with dipping syrup, sausage covered with a corn dog bun on a stick, also with dipping syrup, and finally, a large muffin. He grabbed a nearby muffin and a carton of orange juice and a carton of chocolate milk. He quickly typed in the lunch number he'd had since elementary school and left the room with his belongings, heading towards an empty table. There was no need to pay for his items; he and his brothers got free lunch.

He hated this part of every school year: trying to find a spot to sit and hopefully make a new friend. In the past, he hadn't been as fortunate as Alvin and Simon due mainly to the fact that he was slightly overweight. Still, he liked his rotund belly. He liked to think that it made him cuter, along with his cute chubby cheeks that he somehow still had even though he was twelve. He had suspected that his chubby cheeks would've been gone by the time he reached the age of four, but he supposed that was what made him only cuter than he already was.

Sighing, he decided to sit down at the end of an empty chair. He set his items on the table and began unwrapping his muffin. He jumped when a couple of Hispanic boys started talking to him in Spanish and waving their arms to their right. Confused, the chubby chipmunk said, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you."

"Move your ass, fat boy," a Hispanic boy yelled at the portly chipmunk. "Can you understand that?"

Theodore slowly nodded and gathered his things to move to another table. Clearly, the table he was at was only reserved for the Hispanic kids. As he walked across the room in search of another table, he noticed that other tables had a whole group of diverse kids: black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, and even a couple of German kids. His feelings were hurt, of course, by the Hispanic boy's rude comment, but he refused to let it show. He refused to cry in public for fear that he would be laughed at and teased about it. Apparently, seventh graders didn't cry. They were tough. He'd only been at his new school for twenty minutes now and already he was wishing that his brothers were with him. He didn't like being alone.

He spotted an empty table, but hesitated in moving toward it. He checked to make sure that it wasn't reserved for any students, then made his way over to it. He sat down at the end and once again prepared to eat his breakfast. As he was unwrapping his muffin, he noticed that a clock on the wall in front of him read that it was fifty minutes past seven o' clock, which only gave him ten minutes to eat breakfast and get to his first class. Luckily, he was a fast eater. He ate quickly, but made sure to enjoy his meal for fear that eating too quickly would result in him having the hiccups throughout the rest of the day.

Five minutes later, after he had thrown away his empty belongings, Theodore scooped up his backpack and followed the other students out of the cafeteria and down the hall with the school bell urging them to get to class on time and letting them know that they only had five minutes to do it. He dug a hand into the pocket of his sweater and pulled out his schedule. Walking down the hall, he unfolded the piece of paper and scanned it once again.

_Period Class Teacher Room_

_1 Reading Kerr 206_

_2 History Heller 136_

_3 P.E. Hayes Gym_

_4 Science Shuffitt 208_

_5 Math Curry 207_

_6 Language Carr 209 _

_ Arts_

He noticed that the seventh graders and the eighth graders were divided into four groups. The seventh graders were either in the groups known as the Palominos or the Appaloosas. The eighth graders were either in the groups known as the Thoroughbreds or the Lippizaners. He was in the group known as Appaloosa, which would explain why he had certain teachers. He also noticed that each group was named after a specific breed of horse. This didn't surprise him. After all, the students who attended this school, as well as the teachers and the players on the sports teams, were known as the Moss Mustangs.

He followed the other students down the hall, passing the library and the main office as he went. After scanning the numbers on the rooms, he knew where he was going. He came to a halt when he reached a fork in the road: two hallways, one on his left and one on his right. He checked his map and took a left upon studying it. He found Ms. Kerr's room on his left. Her room was the second door on his left.

Ms. Kerr was a short fat white woman with flaming red puffy hair and green eyes. She wore no glasses and had no mole, as Theodore had suspected. However, she did wear a white buttoned shirt and black pants with black shoes. With a book in her hands, she sat on top of a black stool facing her pupils. For the longest time, she did not speak. She only peered at her students with a hard look, as if she didn't want to be at school any more than they did. At least they were sympathizing with one another. That was a start.

Theodore sat quietly with his chin resting on his folded arms. He yawned, wishing that he would've gotten more sleep than he had. He hadn't gotten to sleep until ten-thirty at night and had been jerked out of his peaceful slumber by Simon's alarm clock at six-thirty in the morning, much to his annoyance. Like Alvin, he was sometimes hard to get up in the mornings, especially on the first day of school, and this morning had been no exception. At first, he had attempted to go back to sleep, but after being roughly shoved out of bed by Simon, he got up and did his morning routine of getting ready for school in spite of the fact that he longed to be back in bed dreaming about whatever it was he'd been dreaming about before he'd been woken up. His mind was a blank when he tried to recall what he'd been dreaming about. Although he'd gotten over seven hours of sleep, he longed to be back in bed asleep. Once again, he yawned, waiting impatiently for something to happen.

"Good morning, class," Ms. Kerr said. "Welcome to seventh grade reading. Here, we will look at different topics found in books. I expect each and every one of you to do your best. Points from your grade will be counted off if you are tardy, refuse to work, or turn in an assignment past the date it's due. Any questions?"

The room remained silent. Somewhere, someone coughed.

"Good," Ms. Kerr said. She crossed one leg over the other and shifted in her seat. "Any inappropriate remarks and I'll have you removed from my class permanently. Is that clear?"

Theodore, along with the rest of the class, nodded. Already he was beginning not to like his reading teacher. He hated the fact that he'd be stuck with her for the next nine months. Luckily, he'd be away from her during the summer and he wouldn't have to be around her next year, provided that he passed the seventh grade.

His other three classes went by without any problems with the teachers, but he found what they were discussing extremely boring. In each class, they went over a different section of the student handbook, going over the rules of the school and what was allowed and not allowed. Theodore had already read through all the material found in the student handbook. While the teacher went on and on about proper dress while at school and proper use of the school's equipment, he simply doodled in a brand new notebook of his with a well-sharpened pencil.

Halfway through fourth period with Ms. Shuffitt, who was going over proper behavior in the cafeteria, the bell rang, dismissing the class to lunch, much to Theodore's relief. As they left the room, Ms. Shuffitt called after them, "When we come back, we'll review proper behavior on the buses." Her class let out a groan of annoyance.

Once again, Theodore found himself alone in the lunch room. With one hand on his forehead, he poked at the mashed potatoes on his plate with his fork. He scooped up a forkful of the stuff and popped it in his mouth. At least eating made him feel better. He hoped that the rest of his day would go by in a flash. He was already looking forward to when Dave would pick him up and take him home so he could take a nap. Knowing his luck, he would fall asleep on the ride home.

After going over proper behavior on the buses (which Theodore found completely useless since Dave would be taking him to school in the mornings and taking him home in the afternoons), the topic of the importance of attendance, being prepared for class, and proper language in the classrooms and hallways, it was finally time to go home. Theodore quickly gathered his things and followed the other students outside to the front entrance with one hand squeezing the only shoulder strap of his backpack that was slung over his shoulder. He found Dave already waiting for him in the parking lot. He wasted no time in getting in the car and buckling his seat belt.

"How was your first day?" Dave asked him.

"Fine," Theodore replied, keeping his gaze forward. He momentarily looked over his shoulder to see that Dave still needed to pick up Alvin and Simon from their school. He lowered the volume on the radio, then lifted a lever on the side of his seat, lowering the back of it so he could lay down. He knew to do so was pointless since he'd have to raise the seat up again as soon as Alvin and Simon got in the car, but a few moments of peace and quiet couldn't possibly hurt him.

The mood in Alvin was one of surprise as he got in Dave's car with Simon. "Theodore, let me tell you something, man." He leaned forward with a hand on the top of Theodore's seat and peered at his little brother. "High school is a lot different from middle school. They're a lot more strict."

Simon chuckled as he buckled his seat belt. "Well, what did you expect, Alvin? To have more freedom while at school?"

Alvin was completely honest in his answer. "Well . . ., yeah."

Simon chuckled once more and shook his head as he began reading a book that he'd brought along with him from home. It was one of his favorite books. The title of the book said exactly what the book was all about: _Stress: How to Cope_. He figured that since he was in high school and that he'd have to put up with Alvin all day since they were in the same grade, learning how to cope with stress now rather than later was a wise decision.

While Alvin complained about how dull his day had been, Theodore relaxed against his seat, slumping down in it until he was no longer in a sitting position. He placed one arm behind his head and tilted his head to the side to go to sleep.

It was six-thirty when Theodore finally woke up. Quickly realizing that he'd been sleeping for three and a half hours, he sprang out of bed and ran down the stairs to the kitchen to discover that Dave was still preparing dinner. He sighed in relief. He hadn't missed dinner. After the day he had had, he could use a good meal.

Alvin was found in the living room mindlessly changing the channels on the television. He felt a change in the motion of the couch. He discovered why when he looked to his right to see Theodore sitting beside him with a grin on his face. Turning back to the television, Alvin changed the channel to the Disney Channel, where an episode of _That's So Raven _was being played. He grinned. "Behold, the downfall of Disney Channel." He laughed.

"I hear they're supposed to be coming out with some new episodes," Theodore noted.

"Isn't she, like, twenty years old now?" Alvin questioned, gesturing towards the black girl on the television known as Raven-Symone.

Theodore shook his head. "She won't turn twenty until this December."

"Still," Alvin went on, "she's a little old to be doing this family-friendly crap."

Theodore nodded in agreement. "I hear you, brother. Is there anything on Disney Channel that you actually like?"

Alvin nodded his head once he thought about his answer. "Yeah. I like _The Proud Family_,_ Brandy & Mr. Whiskers_,and _American Dragon: Jake Long_. Speaking of which, do you think that they copied Jake and Rose from _Titanic_? I mean, Jack and Jake are pretty much the same name with only two little letters changed."

Theodore laughed. "Yeah, it's possible. What about _Kim Possible_? Do you like it?"

"I do. I hear that all of these shows are supposed to get some episodes aired on here, including a _Proud Family _TV movie."

"Ooh, we'll have to watch that."

Alvin sighed. "Such a shame that Simon doesn't relish in stuff like this."

"Yeah."

"So, uh, I'm curious. How did your first day of school go?"

Theodore's voice was full of anger as he spoke. "It sucked. I can't stand my reading teacher."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"She's . . ." He struggled to describe her in a friendly manner. "She's a real mean, nasty lady. I'm already looking forward to the eighth grade just so I can get away from her."

"If you need anything, just let me know. I've got your back. You know that, right?"

Theodore smiled. "Yeah." His eyes drifted back to the television screen that showed a commercial about DirecTV.

"Come on, guys, let's go," Dave called after a few minutes. "Dinnertime. Simon, dinnertime."

In response, the three of them heard a loud clattering noise followed shortly by a series of loud swears.

Alvin chuckled and nudged Theodore in the ribs. "He's _your _brother." He entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Just be glad you don't have to deal with him all day. Would you mind getting me a drink?"

"Yeah, sure," Theodore replied. He went to the fridge while Dave was busy fixing plates of food. He grabbed three cans of Citrus Drop from a twelve-pack of cans, holding two between his fingers in one hand and the third in the other hand. He closed the door with his foot and placed one of the cans in front of Alvin before taking his seat and placing Simon's drink at their older brother's usual spot. He opened his drink and took a sip, allowing the cold beverage to wash away his troubles and worries from the day and making him forget all about Ms. Kerr.

Panting and with a scowl on his face, Simon entered the kitchen through the basement. His usually clean sweater and body was now coated in oil and grease. He fished out his cleaning cloth for his glasses from the pocket of his sweater and attempted to clean off the oil and grease from the lenses. While he did succeed in getting the mess off, he now had smudges on both lenses. He growled in frustration and stuffed the cleaning cloth and his glasses into the pocket of his sweater before trudging up the stairs to take a shower.

The atmosphere around the dinner table was quiet. Since they'd already talked about their day, there wasn't much left to say between the two chipmunks and their father. They simply sat at the table eating their food silently. Tonight's meal consisted of barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans. Theodore found it odd that he'd eaten the same exact thing at school, but the food at the school wasn't nowhere near as good as Dave's cooking.

Of course, Dave had learned how to cook through trial and error. Like many cooks before him, his first cooking experiments didn't turn out as good as he'd first hoped. For Christmas one year, the boys had gotten him a cookbook as a joke. Luckily, their father had a good sense of humor and found the present amusing.

Simon didn't get to eat dinner until long after everyone else had finished. He heated his food up in the microwave, then did the dishes upon finishing his meal. He was the last one to get to bed, but he was used to that. Oftentimes when he would stay up late working on an experiment, he wouldn't get to bed until late in the morning, long after everyone else had already gone to bed.

With the hope that things would get better throughout the school year, Theodore rested a weary head on his pillow. Yawning, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

One of the first assignments that Theodore was given in his reading class was to put together a poster that was about nonfiction, their first topic discussed in the class. Being that the chubby chipmunk was a Christian, he decided to do his on the Bible, making his poster into a parody of the game show _Who Wants To Be A Millionaire_, complete with a list of money in a panel to the far right of his poster. He stayed up late on the night before the assignment was due, adding a few more touches, such as decorating the poster with crosses and pictures of fish and the Bible in a variety of colors.

In his past experiences with being a Christian in school, he had faced ridicule from students and teachers for reading his Bible while at school. They claimed that for him to do so was illegal. While he was not well schooled in law and government, he did know that practicing his faith in school was not illegal, but it was illegal for teachers to teach the Bible in school, much to his sadness. Still, the ridicule and abuse that he faced from his peers and teachers did little to dampen his spirits and his faith in Christ. He hoped that with his presentation, he would be able to teach his peers at Henry F. Moss Middle School about the sacrifice Jesus had paid for their sins, provided that Ms. Kerr allowed him to do so. He doubted she would, but he hoped that God wanted him to do as Jesus had commanded him: preach the Gospel to every creature.

With his poster between his legs, Theodore gazed out the window on the ride to school. He gently tapped his fingers on the armrest of his car door, tapping in time with the music that buzzed through the speakers. He could barely hear the lyrics, much less the beat of the music, since the volume level on the radio was so low. When he considered this, he realized that his tapping was most likely the product of his happy mood. He looked at the Minit-Mart that the car sped past, longing for something to drink to wash down the donuts he'd eaten during breakfast. He'd been in too big of a hurry to get anything to drink, and he'd eaten the donuts rather quickly.

The only thing he got in the cafeteria was a carton of chocolate milk. The ice-cold milk helped drive away the dryness in his throat. He set the empty carton down on the table in front of him afterward and began hitting it back and forth with his hands, pretending like his hands were two hockey players tossing the empty milk carton, which served as the hockey puck, back and forth.

"You know what? Shut your mouth!"

Theodore looked up to see Ms. Kerr talking to a tall black boy. His expression hardened and he felt his fingers curl, forming his hand into a fist while the other crushed the empty milk carton. Thanks to her, his hockey game had been interrupted and would proceed no further. Sighing, he rose from his seat with the empty milk carton in his hand, having the temptation to throw the empty milk carton at his reading teacher. He resisted the urge. He walked over to a nearby trash can and dumped the empty milk carton inside, then walked back over to his seat and sat down with his backpack and his poster by his side.

When first period came around, he was reluctant to go first, afraid that he would be ridiculed for doing his poster on the Bible. To him, the Bible was basically a history book and therefore, he considered it a nonfiction book. Still, he was eager to present his poster and hopefully lead someone in the classroom to realize Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

Many students, he noticed, did their posters on either national or international affairs while others did theirs on sports, television, music, or films. He noticed that he'd been the only one who had actually done his poster on a nonfiction book. He hoped that this difference would not only be a good change of pace within the classroom, but also earn him an easy "A."

At long last, he was called upon to present his poster. Upon unfolding it, Ms. Kerr quickly changed her mind.

"You know what?" she said harshly. "I can already see where this is going, so you can go ahead and sit down, Theodore, because you're getting a 'F.'"

Theodore stared at her in disbelief, fighting the urge to raise his middle finger at her. He slowly folded up his poster and returned to his seat in a bad mood.

He remained in a bad mood throughout the rest of the day. Luckily, history quickly got his mind off what had happened in Ms. Kerr's room. They were currently studying Egyptians and the Egyptian gods and goddesses. While this did provoke him to discuss the first commandment of the Ten Commandments, he restrained himself from doing so, afraid that Ms. Heller, like Ms. Kerr, would chastise him for the act. Instead, he listened carefully, trying his best to memorize the different names of the Egyptian deities since he had a test over it at the end of the quarter. He scribbled down the names and their abilities in his notebook so he had something to study with during the evenings when he was studying. He knew that Simon, since his brother had gone through the class already, would be able to help him.

At the end of the day, Theodore walked down the hall with the straps of his backpack slung over his shoulders. He had one hand in the pocket of his sweater while the other squeezed a shoulder strap. Upon discovering that he had more than four quarters in his pocket, he decided to get something to drink. He turned back around and began heading back in the direction that he'd come down. He took a right, starting down a new hallway, passing the library along the wall.

He discovered a vending machine at the end of the hallway. He shoved four quarters in the coin slot and quickly selected his drink, feeling like he needed to hurry since Dave was waiting on him. With a clang, a bottle of RC dropped into the slot below Theodore. He slid his hand into the slot and retrieved his drink before turning and walking down the hall again.

Near the end of September, Theodore's reading class began discussing his favorite topic: fiction. While he did quite poorly at writing nonfiction, he did very well at writing fiction. He had enjoyed writing ever since he'd been in third grade, back when he'd first decided he wanted to become a novelist when he grew up. He intended on keeping his dream alive by going to college and getting the highest degree possible in creative writing. Based on how harsh Ms. Kerr could be, he didn't get his hopes up about getting a good grade on a story of his. Still, he attempted to do his best and receive the grade he got without complaining, knowing that doing so wouldn't get him anywhere.

They read several short stories in their literature books before Ms. Kerr granted them the idea to write their own short story. While Theodore was excited about the assignment, he knew that he wouldn't get a good grade on it. He wasn't sure what Ms. Kerr had against him. Perhaps it was because he was a Christian. He thought that this idea was the only possible reason since he couldn't think of any other reason whatsoever for his reading teacher disliking him.

By the time school ended, Theodore already had his short story planned out in his head. His short story was about a very fat skunk by the name of Erik Matthews. The skunk was a lonely, depressed suicidal student at the school that he attended due to the fact that he had no friends and the fact that his mother never spent any time with him. She worked all the time, leaving him to babysit his little sister Marshmallow, a white baby skunk whose appetite for warm milk seemed insatiable.

As soon as he got home, Theodore began writing his short story using Simon's laptop. He planned on saving his story on a flash drive and then printing it out in the library before he had to report to his first class of the day. He felt that the story was longer than a short story, but he hoped that Ms. Kerr wouldn't mind. If he got a bad grade on a story that he felt was very well-written, then he would be very upset with his teacher if she didn't know a good story when she saw one.

Colin Phillips was the raccoon who ended up befriending Erik in his short story. The raccoon succeeded in preventing Erik from committing suicide and even succeeded in convincing the fat skunk to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

The character of Erik Matthews reminded Theodore a lot of himself since the fat skunk loved to eat. The portly skunk spent most of his time in the kitchen binge eating when his little sister was asleep.

By the time dinnertime came around, Theodore was done with his story, though he felt it was a bit too long. Regardless of this, however, he hoped that his reading teacher enjoyed it. He'd only known her for nearly a month, but she was already really starting to get on his last nerve. He was beginning to wonder if he couldn't be transferred to a new reading class with a friendlier teacher.

The two weeks to transfer to classes was already up, so getting transferred to a new reading class was out of the question. He didn't suppose there was any problem with at least trying to get transferred, even if it didn't work.

Theodore quickly learned that Ms. Kerr was a fast reader, because during lunchtime on the day that he turned in his short story, Ms. Kerr came over to where he was sitting and stated, "Theodore, I'm going to see about getting you a counselor here at school who can work with you on some of the issues you're going through. Based on your story, I'd say you desperately need to seek some help." Confused, Theodore watched as his teacher walked away.

When he got home, Theodore went straight up to the bedroom that he shared with Alvin and Simon and thought about his story. Just because he'd written about a suicidal skunk who was lonely and depressed, his teacher had automatically thought that _he _was the one going through those certain issues. Contrary to what his teacher believed, he was not suicidal or depressed, and he certainly wasn't lonely. He hoped that she would quickly forget about her plans for getting him a counselor. He found out a few days later that she hadn't.

A few days after he had turned in his short story for his reading class, Theodore was driven by Dave to an institution for people like Theodore's main character in his short story-people who were either depressed, lonely, or on the verge of committing suicide. He quickly explained to Dave the situation and his father quickly explained to him in return that he was simply taking Theodore to get a report from a counselor to prove to his reading teacher that he wasn't a threat to himself or anyone else around him.

A few minutes later, both Dave and Theodore found themselves in a small office sitting in front of a young white man with short brown hair, a brown goatee, and gray eyes. With his hands folded on the table, the counselor listened carefully to Dave as the man explained the situation while Theodore sat quietly in the seat beside him with his own hands folded between his legs with his gaze cast down to the floor. Once Dave was finished, the counselor filled out a form that he handed to Dave.

"Thank you," Dave said, folding up the sheet of paper and putting it in his shirt pocket.

"You said that he has two other brothers," the counselor said to Dave.

Dave nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Do they get to spend a lot of time together?"

Dave shook his head. "No, not really. They pretty much all do their own little activities."

"It just so happens that I'm in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. If you don't mind, Mr. Seville, I'd like to get to know your son a little better. I could pick him up from school, if that's okay with you, and we can, you know, hang out."

Theodore lifted his gaze to meet his father's.

"What do you think, Theodore?" Dave asked. "Would you like that?"

Theodore turned his head to meet the gaze of the counselor in front of him. "Do you attend church?" he inquired. "I don't get to go that often."

"As a matter of fact, I do," the counselor said. "I'm a Christian, actually. I got to Hillvue Heights Church on Lexington Road. You could come with me on Wednesday nights when we have our youth group meetings."

Theodore grinned. "I'd like that."

Rising from his chair, Dave shook the counselor's hand as he himself stood up. "Thank you, counselor."

Shaking Dave's hand, the counselor smiled. "Please," he insisted, "call me Marcus. Marcus Stacker."

With a hand gently placed on his son's back, Dave led Theodore out of the room and down the hall back towards the main entrance.


	2. The Brochure

Chapter 2: The Brochure

Theodore had to admit that he was nervous about hanging out with Marcus at first. After a few sessions, however, he began to warm up to Marcus. Most of the time, they would go to the community gym and play some basketball. Other times, they would go to the park and walk around as they talked. It was only when they separated at church for their youth groups that they didn't talk to each other. Afterward, Theodore would wait by the door of the room in which his youth group meetings took place for Marcus to pick him up. On the drive home, they would discuss what their youth groups had talked about during the youth group meeting.

Surprisingly, both Alvin and Simon were glad that Theodore had found an older friend to hang out. Alvin had to admit that he wasn't exactly the best example for Theodore to follow, and Simon's speech often led the chubby chipmunk to confusion as he struggled to decipher the meaning behind some of the things that Simon said. With Marcus around, Theodore was not only gaining a positive role model to follow, but also growing in his spirituality as well. Through Marcus's years of Bible study, he learned several new things that he hadn't known before, such as the true reasons why God had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Unfortunately for Theodore, him bringing his Bible to school and reading it still proved to be a problem, particularly in reading class. One such incident involved Theodore reading it the last five minutes of class before he had to report to second period. Out of nowhere, Ms. Kerr had marched over to his desk, slammed his Bible shut, and said, "Theodore, we are _not _reading the SO catch you reading this crap in my classroom again, I'll report you to the office. Now get to class!" While this incident had not only left Theodore surprise, it had shocked him. It had been the very first time he'd heard a teacher yell in school, especially at him. He had shrugged it off as an incident of his adversary-Satan-trying to lure him away from his faith and continued to read his Bible daily, both in and out of school.

By the time fall break arrived, Theodore was relieved to be out of school for two weeks. Not only would it mean that he'd get to hang out some more with Marcus, but it'd also mean that he'd get some time away from school and especially from Ms. Kerr. He was thankful that Marcus never brought up his short story, even if Theodore had let him read it. Apparently, Marcus believed the same thing he believed: just because someone wrote about someone going through an issue didn't necessarily mean that the author was going through the issue themself.

There was one other incident that upset Theodore, but it had occurred in science class. After finishing his book work, he laid his head down, deciding that he'd rest for the next fifteen minutes before the class ended.

Ms. Shuffitt stopped at Theodore's desk and slapped a hand down on his desk, jerking the chipmunk's head up. "Get started on your work," she ordered. "Or have you already finished?" When Theodore didn't answer, she added angrily, "You better answer me, boy!"

_Theodore glared at her. Standing up abruptly, he knocked his chair over. "I'm done, thank you very much! So, before you go shooting your mouth off, you might actually want to check my work!" He thrust her paper at her. _

Theodore handed her his paper and waited patiently as she studied it. She made a mark on it with her red marker, then handed it back to him. He examined it to see that she had made a check mark on it, earning him an easy "A" in the class. Still, that didn't change the fact that she had gotten smart with him. While he was upset over this fact, he decided to shrug it off and quickly packed his things to go to his next class when the bell rang.

When he wasn't hanging out with Marcus or reading his Bible, Theodore was busy writing. Underneath his bed was a box full of notebooks that he wrote in. Every now and then, the ink in a pen would run dry and he'd have to substitute it for a new one. He bought the pens and notebooks himself with the allowance he earned from Dave. Othertimes, he would get them through birthdays or Christmases. While he wrote, he prayed that God would lead him in his writing, helping him to become a better writer in the process. He found much of his inspiration from the Bible and listening to music on the radio, most of it being Christian music. He listened to his music through headphones since his style of music annoyed his brothers. This was just fine with him since his radio was positioned on his headboard.

He remembered how God had tested Abraham's faith and had requested that Abraham sacrifice his only son Isaac to him. In a way, he felt as if his stern reading teacher was God's way of testing his faith. True, it was hard to resist the urge to slap her across the face and start preaching to her, but he realized that doing so was not God's way of doing things, and if he wanted to be an honorable servant of God, he had to do things in the way he thought God would want them to be done in. He knew that sooner or later things would get better.

Theodore contemplated about whether or not he should tell Marcus about his reading teacher. He felt as if he were being verbally abused by her, but didn't want to stir up any trouble for fear that he would only get himself in trouble. He considered Marcus one of his best friends-besides Jesus-and thought that Marcus woul appreciate him being honest with him. After all, he was honest with Jesus and being that Marcus was his brother in Christ, he thought he should also be honest with Marcus.

It wasn't until Marcus picked him up on Sunday morning to take him to church. As Marcus stopped at a red light, Theodore suddenly blurted out, "I don't feel like going back to school."

Marcus looked over at the chubby chipmunk. "Why not?" He rested his arm against the steering wheel, staring at Theodore with concern in his eyes. "Someone bothering you or something?"

"Actually, it's my teacher." Theodore kept his gaze out the window, afraid that he'd start crying if he were to look Marcus in the eyes. "She's verbally abusing me."

"Are you sure?"

Theodore nodded. "Yeah."

"If you want, I could go in there and defend you. If I do and it turns out that she's not, then . . . you know . . . there's not much else I can do."

"I understand."

The truck started forward once more. Marcus took a right, starting down Lexington Road. "You're sure about this, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Theodore's eyes remained outside as the truck swept across the parking lot of Hillvue Heights Church. He wasn't paying any attention to the empty parking spaces that they were passing. His mind was focused on the possibility that Ms. Kerr would get fired because of him. In a way, he was regretting telling Marcus about her in the first place. If she got fired because of him, then he'd be in trouble. He didn't want that. Perhaps his youth group could be of assistance to him.

When altar call was announced during the sermon, Theodore made his way towards the altar with the other church members making their way to it. Shaking, he knelt at the altar, folding his hands together and bowing his head until his forehead was resting on his folded hands. Closing his eyes and talking in hushed whispers, he began to pray while the pastor put a quivering hand on his back and began to pray with him. Afterward, he rose from his praying position and wiped some tears from his eyes as he made his way back to his seat. As he walked, he no longer was worried about Ms. Kerr. Jesus had taken care of his worry and had replaced it with a sense of peace. For some odd reason, he felt as if everything would be all right and there was no need to worry at all.

On the drive back to his home, Theodore shared his experience at the altar with Marcus. He felt as if God himself were lifting a large weight off his shoulders. While his counselor was thrilled that talking to Jesus had made him feel better, he still wanted to go in and defend Theodore since he felt that it was the right thing to do. Theodore didn't argue, knowing that his friend was wanting to help him. He knew that Marcus's heart was in the right place, and that was all that mattered.

Unfortunately, Marcus talking to Ms. Kerr did little to help. As long as Marcus had done his best to help, that was all that mattered to Theodore. The least he could do was pray for his teacher that she would eventually come to realize Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. If a sinner could do it, surely a reading teacher could.

Theodore finished tying his shoe laces on his shoes before stuffing his gym clothes in his backpack and standing up. He zipped up the pocket that contained his gym clothes and slung one of the shoulder straps over his shoulder and made his way to the gym. He stood quietly by the gym doors, waiting for the bell to ring while he clutched the shoulder strap that was over his shoulder. He looked up at the bleachers when he heard someone say, "You suck at sports." He cast his gaze back to the doors, ignoring the white girl with short brown hair and freckles known as Kandi Haman that had spoken the insult to him.

Kandi Haman, on the other hand, seemed determined to get on Theodore's bad side. She marched down to Theodore and glared at him. "Did you hear me?"

Theodore nodded. "Oh, yeah, I heard you. I'm just choosing not to pay any attention to you." He left the gym as soon as the bell rang and went to his fourth period class.

With three minutes before class started, Ms. Shuffitt hoped that she could talk to Theodore about something concerning Kandi Haman. Poking her head into her classroom, she called, "Theodore, come here."

Theodore closed the book he was reading and rose from his seat. He walked into the hall to see Mr. Curry and Ms. Shuffitt standing in front of Kandi Haman.

"Kandi here says that you hit her," Ms. Shuffitt said, pointing to Kandi. She raised her hand and began counting on her fingers. "She also claims that you called her a bitch, a slut, a skank. Would you like to add anything?"

Theodore shook his head. He knew that there was no point in saying that he'd done nothing.

"I'd better not hear about something like this happening again," Mr. Curry said. He pointed to Theodore. "You keep your hands to yourself."

Ms. Shuffitt pointed to Kandi. "And you keep your opinions to yourself. Now both of you get to class."

With Kandi beside him, Theodore went in Ms. Shuffitt's room and took his seat.

The boy sitting beside Theodore looked over at the chubby chipmunk. "What happened?"

"He hit me, Keith," Kandi replied.

Keith Johnson grinned at Theodore. "Did you really?"

Theodore shook his head. "Don't listen to her. She's a liar."

Keith turned around in his seat and tapped Kandi on the shoulder. "Do you like him?" He pointed to Theodore.

"Hell, no," Kandi replied.

Theodore glared at her. "I don't know why. I haven't done anything to you." He was grateful when Kandi said nothing in response. Hearing the door close, he turned and looked to see Ms. Shuffitt enter the room. Without another word to Kandi, he opened his book and began doing the section problems that were written on the dry-erase board.

_December 2005_

Like any other child, Theodore was excited about Christmas, and just like any other child, he found it hard getting to sleep on Christmas Eve. Throughout most of the night, he stayed awake, staring up at the ceiling and smiling to himself with his hands folded together behind his head. He knew, though, that Christmas wasn't about the presents, as Alvin liked to believe. For Theodore, being a Christian, it was all about the birth of his Lord and Savior. Presents were only minor material possessions when compared to this specific historical event. He did hope, however, that he had gotten the CDs and DVDs that he'd asked for. He hoped that the CDs and DVDs helped him increase in his spirituality, just as prayer and Bible study did.

With Alvin and Simon early on Christmas morning, he sneaked downstairs to the living room to see the Christmas tree fully decorated and piled with Christmas presents. He sat on the living room couch and waited patiently for Dave to get up and pass out the presents. He could feel his excitement building and his patience wearing thin as he waited for Dave with his older brothers. He finally let out a sigh of relief when he heard footsteps proceeding down the stairs a few minutes later.

"Morning, boys," Dave greeted his sons as he entered the living room and sat down with them on the couch.

They grinned and greeted him in unison: "Morning, Dave."

"Anyone in the mood for some boiled custard?" Dave inquired.

"Not right now," Theodore stated. "Maybe later."

"All right," Dave agreed. "Shall I pass out the presents?"

"Yes," all three chipmunks cried.

Smiling, Dave knelt down by the Christmas tree and lifted a gift wrapped in red wrapping paper with light brown bows on it and a golden bow taped on it. It was still early in the morning, so it was difficult for him to see properly. He stood and turned on the light that was attached to the spinning fan that was attached to the ceiling. Peering at the tag taped to the package, he said, "Who does this go to?"

It was incredibly easy for the boys to tell which presents were there since each of their presents were the same colors as the color of their clothing. Alvin's presents were red. Simon's presents were blue. Theodore's presents were green. And Dave's presents were yellow. The package that Dave was holding in his hands was clearly Alvin's and it didn't take Alvin long to make this simple fact known to the man. Dave handed him the present and watched him eagerly rip it open, tearing off the wrapping paper to reveal a pair of headphones.

Theodore ended up getting the CDs and DVDs that he had wanted, as well as a few books that he'd picked out at the Christian book store. He had gotten Alvin a few video games and he had gotten Simon a book on mechanics since he was certain that they'd both get him something. He felt it was only right that he get them something as well. Otherwise, he'd feel bad if he didn't.

After Christmas, the boys went back to school, much to Theodore's annoyance. He prayed that God would give him the strength to help him get through the rest of the school year.

The next section that Theodore's reading class discussed was theater. For their next assignment, they were to write a play that lasted at least five minutes. While Theodore had never written a play before, he was excited for the new experience in writing. He was always looking for new styles of writing to try, including poetry. On his drive home from school, he thought about his play. He decided to once again use the same characters he'd used for his short story back in September: Erik Matthews and Colin Phillips. Instead of writing about controversial issues in his play, he would discuss the power of friendship in prayer. The play specifically dealt with a friend of Erik and Colin's in the hospital. While Erik was worried, Colin was not and he would end the play with a dramatic fight between the two before they eventually decided to go to the hospital to visit their friend.

On his way to fourth period from lunch on the day that he turned in the script for his play, Ms. Kerr approached him. He froze, believing that she wanted to scold him for mentioning prayer and the Bible in his play. To his utmost surprise, she congratulated him on a job well done and reported that she was giving him an "A" on the assignment. He smiled, hoping that maybe God was causing a work in her and hoping that she would eventually give her heart to the Lord. He could only continue to hope and pray for her "without ceasing," as the Bible commanded.

In the four months that he'd been in school, Theodore hadn't made a friend besides Marcus. He wasn't very popular and his social skills weren't exactly very well developed. He wasn't bothered by this, however. In his mind, as long as he had Jesus, he didn't need anyone else in his life since he knew that his Savior would provide all his needs. Therefore, there was no need for him to worry about his needs being fulfilled when he moved out of the house when he graduated from high school to start life on his own.

When February arrived, Theodore considered giving Erik and Colin love interests, though he struggled with the idea of making them gay lovers. He knew better than that. He seemed to be obsessed with his characters since he wrote about them all the time. He wrote short stories involving the two characters and eventually began writing a novel entitled _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_, a very long prose involving how Erik and Colin met and following them throughout their school years and going through their adulthoods as the two of them experienced life's ups and downs. He developed two new characters: Melissa Daniels, a girl skunk with blue eyes who was Erik's girlfriend, and Brenda Connors, a girl opossum with baby blue eyes who was Colin's girlfriend. He didn't introduce the characters until Erik and Colin started high school, when their hormones started getting the better of them. Despite this attention to sexual desire, he made sure to keep the central idea of the novel on the importance of a relationship with Christ and how God could help anyone overcome any problem that they faced. Since he feared that the story would get him in trouble, he refused to let Ms. Kerr read it.

Near the end of March in 2006, _Ice Age: The Meltdown _was released in theaters. Marcus offered to take Theodore to see it and the chipmunk didn't refuse. Using Marcus's phone, he dialed Dave's phone number and told his father that he wouldn't be home until two hours later. Walking in the theater, they got their tickets and waited for at least seventeen minutes before they got their snacks and drinks and went in the viewing room where their movie was being shown. They sat beside each other for safety purposes, sitting near the near so they could quickly get out of the viewing room to avoid traffic upon leaving the theater. While Marcus had already seen the film with a group of youth group kids, he laughed along with Theodore at parts that he found humorous, but felt uncomfortable when Theodore asked him what a pervert was after the chipmunk heard the word uttered by one of the characters.

On Wednesday, before going to his youth group meeting with Marcus at Hillvue Heights Church, Theodore suggested that they leave early so he could go to Walmart and purchase a DVD that he'd been longing to have: _Chicken Little_. The character of Abby Mallard had caught his attention and was one of the reasons why he was buying the film in the first place. He couldn't help but think that she'd look cute in diapers and fattened up. Unfortunately, he was not good at art to do the ideas himself and would have to see if he couldn't find any pictures with his ideas on the Internet.

Marcus agreed to take Theodore to Walmart provided that it didn't take too long. Along the way, Marcus played some music by tobyMac with the windows rolled down. He parked his car, then led Theodore into the store. Together, they went to the electronics section of Walmart and found the film underneath the "new releases" section. Theodore had more than enough money to purchase the film since it was only ten dollars and he had twenty. With tax, he knew that it would cost a little over ten dollars. With Marcus, he paid for the film and followed him back to his car.

It wasn't until he got home after his youth group meeting that he finally got a chance to watch the film. He used Simon's laptop and a pair of headphones so as not to disturb his brothers while watching the film. Watching the film helped him forget about his problems at school, which helped him get a restful sleep throughout the night.

Thankfully, Theodore didn't have any problems throughout the month of April. May, on the other hand, had a specific event in it that would haunt Theodore throughout his high school years. Before school ended, Ms. Kerr assigned her class to do a brochure for the newcomers to the new school, telling the new students about anything that concerned the school, whether it was the rules or how to get to class or how to get to school. With him being a Christian, Theodore completely shrugged off the assignment and prayed to God to see what his Father wanted him to do. After thinking about it, he realized that telling any new student who happened to get his brochure about Jesus was far more important than telling them about the school. With this logic in mind, he began designing his brochure on paper before copying it down on his brochure, wanting to make sure that he got it perfectly right.

The next day, Theodore got to school early so he could turn in his brochure early. Luckily, Ms. Kerr's classroom door was open. He spotted her at her desk, grading some papers. Nervously, he walked in her room and set his brochure on her desk, leaving before she had a chance to say anything. He wasn't concerned about his final grade. The only thing he was concerned about was leading a fellow student to Christ.

Unfortunately, Ms. Kerr was more concerned about his final grade than he was. When he was heading to his first class of the day, she ordered him to follow her to an empty classroom. Shutting the door, she turned to him and thrust his brochure in his face. "Theodore . . ., this isn't what I asked for, is it?"

He didn't move.

"Is it?" she demanded.

He shook his head.

She lowered his brochure and glared at him. "You know, Theodore, I have dealt with you all year, and I am fucking _sick _of it."

He said nothing. He looked at his brochure again. On the cover he had drawn the school with Jesus hovering above it with his arms spread out with a light shining around him, illuminating the black sky that surrounded Him. On the back were several Bible verses. Inside the brochure, he had discussed the importance of having a relationship with Christ and how to develop a relationship with Him. While he could understand why Ms. Kerr was mad, he felt proud of himself for following his Father's command.

"You know what?" Ms. Kerr said. "Just go. I'm tired of dealing with you. Just go! You're getting a 'F.' Don't come crying to me when you're held back." She turned aside, allowing him to leave the room.

It wasn't until he was in Ms. Kerr's classroom that he started praying to God. "Father, why do I bother?" he asked. He felt a lump bob up and down in his throat as his feelings had been hurt by Ms. Kerr, but she didn't care at all. He allowed the tears to flow, hoping that God would make him feel better.

"Ms. Kerr, Theodore's crying," a girl pointed out to the teacher.

"And he should be," Ms. Kerr replied, glaring at Theodore.

The school day went by slowly for Theodore. At lunchtime, the same girl who had told Ms. Kerr that the chipmunk had been crying asked the chipmunk why he had been crying in the first place. He didn't answer her. He kept his gaze away from her, afraid that he'd start crying once again if he looked at her.

When he left the school on the last day of school on May the twenty-seventh, he didn't see Marcus waiting on him like usual. Their sessions had come to an end, and Theodore doubted that he would ever see the young man ever again. At least Marcus had introduced him to his favorite new Christian artist: tobyMac. Back in April, he had gone to a Christian music store and had purchased a couple of tobyMac's CDs for less than twenty dollars. As he walked home, he listened to a tobyMac CD to make him feel better and help him forget about the day's events. Sadly, as soon as he got home, he ran up to his room and cried himself to sleep. It was only when he went to sleep that he completely forgot about his confrontation with Ms. Kerr.

Throughout the summer, Theodore toured with his brothers as they promoted their newest CD. While on the road, he did some writing in his notebooks and read a couple of books and listened to some music to keep himself occupied. His writing seemed to keep him occupied more than anything. When he wrote about Erik and Colin, he seemed to be completely lost in his own little world, as if he became so engrossed in his own story that he couldn't stop writing. Even when asked a question, he wouldn't respond, almost as if he hadn't heard them at all. To keep his brothers from poking their noses into his writing, he listened to music as he wrote, not wanting anyone to see what he was writing, even if he wasn't writing anything inappropriate.

Long after the tour ended, he continued writing, filling each page with words and descriptions of the scenes and locations in which each scene took place. He crafted each character until he could clearly visualize them in his head. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to get his stories published. He doubted that anyone would publish them. With him being a musician, he didn't think anyone would say no when it came to publishing something written by him, even though Alvin wrote most of their songs. Every now and then, Alvin would accept a song written by someone else, such as a fan or even one of his brothers, but it was a rare occasion when one of his brothers wrote a song. Still, Theodore thought it would be exciting to see one of his books on the shelf of a book store with the famous headline above many books that he'd seen in book stores: "_New York Times _best-seller." Perhaps in the future he could get one of his books published. For now, he had to stay focused on his schoolwork.

Luckily for Theodore, he had no trouble throughout his eighth grade year. The only problems he had were several people spreading rumors about him. One rumor was that his father had molested him when he was a child. Another rumor was that he was depressed and suicidal. He quickly reassured anybody who believed the rumor spreaders that he was not depressed, suicidal, and he hadn't been molested by his father when he'd been younger. He reported the rumors to the principal and the boys who had spread the rumors in the first place were eventually suspended. While he was relieved, it still didn't change the fact that many people at Henry F. Moss Middle School still believed the rumors. He quickly found it annoying how people asked him if he wanted to sue his father for sexual abuse or if he wanted to attend counseling to help him get over his supposed depression. He simply ignored them in hopes that they would eventually leave him alone, but to no avail. People continued to pester him to no end about the supposed true rumors. He was tempted to knock them out, but refused to do so, knowing all too well that he'd be the one at fault and the people pestering him wouldn't get in trouble at all. He could only hope that the people eventually moved away or forgot about the rumors. Hopefully by high school, they would.


	3. Trouble

Chapter 3: Trouble

When Theodore had been younger, his favorite television show had been _101 Dalmatians: The Series_. When he watched some episodes of the show on some video tapes that he'd recorded them on, he wondered if there were any fan sites dedicated to the show. When he typed in "101 Dalmatians Fan Site" on Google, the first link that appeared led him to a site known as a 101 Dalmatians Message Board. After looking around on the site, and liking what he saw, he decided to join the message board, assuming the name TheodoreSeville85 as his username. He wasn't exactly sure why he had chosen the specific numbers that he'd chosen. He recalled that the film _Back to the Future _had been released back in 1985. Or maybe the numbers came to him because he'd been listening to "1985" by Bowling for Soup at the time. It didn't really matter.

His first post on the site was his movie review of _The Passion of the Christ_. A few hours later, he received a reply on his post from a poster known as Tic-Tac, though he was most commonly known simply as Tac.

_Tac: All this is going to do is create a huge controversial debate, which is something we don't need on this site. Thanks a lot, dickhead._

Theodore was shocked by the poster's reply, though he had been expecting some nasty replies. Still, the nasty comment wouldn't persuade him to fight dirty.

_TheodoreSeville85: All I'm doing is posting my opinion on a film. What's the big deal?_

He clicked on the "post" button and saw his message appear below Tac's comment a few seconds later. Little did he know that his message would thrust him into a war between him, Tac, and many of the other members of the site.

_Tac: Look, man, you can talk about your day, your life, whatever. But when you bring religion into the mix, you're breaking the rules of the board._

_TheodoreSeville85: I have freedom of speech, you know._

_TAC: Not on here, you don't. You see, I'm an administrator on this site. Therefore, I control what you can say and what you can't say. If someone crosses that line, I have the freedom to delete whatever I deem inappropriate material that isn't fitting for this site. In other words, I own you. I highly suggest that you read the rules and regulations of the board once more so you can get a good idea what about you can and can't post on here._

_TheodoreSeville85: No, you don't own me. I belong to Jesus and no one else._

_Tac: *sighs* That's fine if you have religion, but please, keep it off this site! If you want to go do that stuff, go do on a site other than this one. Thank you._

_Belchic: I'm with Tac on this one. Please refrain from speech involving religion as this may offend some people. The last thing we need is a war breaking out over religion. I also agree with Tac when he says that you should read the rules again so you know what is acceptable talk on this site and what is not._

After a few days of arguing with both Tac and Belchic, Theodore received a private message from the creator of the message board himself: Sparky.

_Sparky: What you have been doing on this site has caught my ears (er, should I say eyes instead?) and I must say that as the creator of this site, I will NOT tolerate this type of behavior. I happen to be a Christian myself, but I advise you to please refrain from speaking about religion to avoid causing controversy. Otherwise, I will have no other choice but to ban you. I can and will do it if necessary. As an administrator and the creator of this site, I have the right to ban anyone who is causing a disruption with one or more members of this site._

Theodore continued to post threads about his religion in the "General Lobby" section of the message board, where, as the subtitle read, he could discuss anything he pleased. However, several members were requesting that people ban him from the site. After a few days of being harassed by the members of the site, he received yet another private message, this one being from Two-Tone Dearly.

_Two-Tone: Look, dude, that's fine if you're Christian. I am Christian myself. However, you cannot go around telling people that they're going to hell simply because they don't believe in the same thing as you. Each person has a right to their own beliefs. You are the only close-minded person on this site. Everyone else here besides you respects different beliefs and points of you. You are the only one causing trouble and if need be, I will ban you from this site if no one else will. I am an administrator, so I have the right to do so if anyone is causing a disturbance within the board. This is your final warning. Stop what you're doing or face the consequences._

Theodore was stubborn, however. He chose to completely ignore the rude comments and the hateful messages that he received, hoping that his spreading the Word on the Internet would help lead others to Christ. It seemed that the only thing it was doing was not only turning people against Jesus, but also turning people against him as well. Some people stated that if his religion involved going around condemning people because of their beliefs, then they didn't want anything to do with his religion. He refused to give up hope and clung to the hope that the verbal abuse would eventually end.

It didn't. Before long, Theodore was momentarily banned from the site. Furious at this, he posted a new topic at a different web site titled "Don't Go To Sparky's." He typed:

_TheodoreSeville85: Attention, everyone! Don't go to Sparky's 101 Dalmatians message board. If you do, you won't get an ounce of respect, trust me. The people on this specific site are so disrespectful that they dare to chastise me for trying to spread the Gospel. Do yourselves all a favor and stay away from this site at all costs._

He received a message from someone a few days later that read, "That's your own personal business. Please don't drag it on here. If you're having trouble with some of the members of that site, please contact one of the administrators to help you. Good luck and good-bye." Shaking his head, he decided to log back on to Sparky's message board to see if his ban had been uplifted. The only message he received in return was, "You have been banned from this site."

For the next few days, Theodore stayed away from the computer. He occupied himself with writing and reading. He considered writing some stories featuring the characters from _101 Dalmatians _and posting them on Sparky's message board. One section of the message board allowed users to post stories. He hoped that he would get some positive reviews for his stories, but based on the fact that he was hated by so many users of the site, he doubted that he woudl. Still, he figured that it wouldn't to give it a shot. He didn't think that he was hurting anybody by posting some of his own material on Sparky's message board.

Unfortunately, he received nothing but negative comments regarding his stories. Many people told him that he sucked at writing and should give up any hope of ever becoming a writer. He was told by one user to stop writing while he still had some dignity left. Another poster said, "What is this? This is some of the worst writing I've ever read. You know, maybe if you actually took some people's advice and applied it to your writing (which you obviously don't), you could actually be a decent writer. But since you choose to completely ignore peoples' suggestions to better yourself, I have nothing to say to you but that you seriously need to take some classes in writing and stop posting crap like this on here. Try reading some of Tac's fics and see how he develops his characters, plot, etc, then try your hand at writing, but don't post anything on here regarding fanfiction unless it's any good, and we will be the judge of that, not you. You clearly lack the capacity to tell what makes a good story and what makes a bad story. Therefore, I highly suggest that you quit writing altogether and spare us having to read this shit you call 'good writing.'"

A new member was added to Sparky's site. His name was Luckyfanpup101. People seemed to get along better with him than Theodore. The chubby chipmunk quickly learned that the new member also had an account on the website that Theodore posted his stories on. Sadly, Lucky did not come up with his own stories. He appeared to be a fan of Theodore's stories since he would make a copy of a story of Theodore's, almost word-for-word, a few days after the chipmunk posted a new story. He found this out when a fan of his writing had e-mailed him with the following:

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but some son of a mother is going around stealing your fics. I'm actually starting to notice a pattern here. Whenever you post a new story, a few days later there will be a story of the exact same nature written by Lucky. While it's good to feel inspired by other peoples' writing, it's not good to copy their writing word-for-word. Don't worry, though, 'cause I took care of that little problem."

Of course, Lucky's actions didn't go unpunished by Theodore's fans. When he heard that Lucky was banned from the site for plagiarism, he was sure to post a thread about it on Sparky's site. Not to his surprise, he received a private message from Two-Tone Dearly a few days later.

_Two-Tone: Why on Earth are you praising God for another person's misfortune? How is that being Christlike? You talk all the time about acting like Christ did, yet your actions do not reflect your speech. You get pissed off whenever someone tries to help you better yourself or when someone is honest with you whenever you ask them to be give their honest opinion. Now you're going around thanking God for a fellow member's ban from a site? You've got some screws loose, man. I hope Lucky comes back to and gets rid of you because you are an awful, awful writer._

When he had told his fans on about Two-Tone's comment, many of them had pretty much said the same thing: "First Lucky and now this? Two-Tone, shut up!" He thanked his fans for supporting him. One had even sent him a link to Two-Tone's account on to discover that she had written the following about him on her account:

"Attention all users. TheodoreSeville85 is a thief and a liar. He purposely goes around stealing Lucky's stories. Do not believe a word he says and more importantly do not read his stories. Thank you."

Theodore knew what she meant by calling him a thief. Someone had hacked into his account and had deleted his stories, leaving him to write them and post them all over again. Unfortunately, during the time that he was rewriting them, Lucky had posted a story titled _Erik, We Hardly Knew You_, a story about a raccoon becoming depressed after his best friend-coincidentally an overweight skunk-was killed, the exact same story that Theodore himself had posted just a few months ago. Of course, since Lucky's fic was posted on the site and his wasn't, no one at Sparky's website believed him when he said that he had written the story first, and when he posted the story back on , many people on Sparky's site, starting with Two-Tone, accused him of stealing Lucky's fics simply because the date that his story was posted on was later than the date that Lucky's story was posted on. He attempted to convince them otherwise but failed and eventually gave up on the matter, leaving the members of Sparky's site to believe what they wished.

His next action proved to be the last straw for many users on the site. When he stumbled upon a thread discussing the Disney Channel show _Brandy & Mr. Whiskers_, he left a comment that read, "I do love this show, but please remember that this is a site for the program _101 Dalmatians _and not _Brandy & Mr. Whiskers_. If, however, you would like to create a site dedicated to the show, feel free to do so." One poster quoted his comment and added the following: "Translation: 'Hey, everyone, it's me, TheodoreSeville85, the asshole craving everybody's attention once again. Over here! Lookie, lookie!' Dude, shut the hell up and leave us all the fuck alone!"

Theodore was actually thrilled to be banned from the site. He had to admit that it was his fault in the first place for being banned the first time, but he had only been trying to spread the Word like any other Christian. Sadly, no one on Sparky's site was interested in getting saved, much less hearing about the Good Book. Nonetheless, he brushed off the encoutner with Two-Tone and the others and decided to continue writing, regardless of his comments. He knew that if he allowed God to lead him in his writing that he would eventually get better at it. Like an artist doing a painting or a drawing, it took lots of time. Over the years, he hoped to develop his writing skills to where he was as good at writing as many famous authors he'd read about, such as Stephen King or Edgar Allan Poe. He was sure that if he read some of their work that their style of writing would eventually rub off on him and he would begin to mimic their style of writing in turn.

Though no one on Sparky's site had ever come to Christ as a result of his preaching, Theodore still felt good about the fact that he had done his best at trying to lead others to Christ, even if he had failed. He would continue to attempt to lead others through Christ through the Internet, even if that meant being banned from multiple sites before someone finally came to Christ through him and his stories.

Longing to connect with fellow Christians, Theodore began searching the Internet for any Christian sites. He stumbled upon some, but was taken aback when he discovered that the topic of religion was being discussed on a site similar to Sparky's 101 Dalmatians fan site. The site was supposedly the number one site dedicated to the show _Corneil & Bernie_, a show he had grown fond of from watching it on Nicktoons. With his curiosity aroused, he decided to become a member of the site. Unlike at Sparky's, he was welcomed with open and had the freedom to preach his beliefs and, hopefully, convert some other members to his faith. He mostly discussed the show _Corneil & Bernie _with his new friends, but he also discussed his favorite video games, movies, TV shows, and favorite types of music, something he hadn't been able to do on Sparky's site since all they talked about was the Disney Channel show _101 Dalmatians _and anything related to it, including fanart and fanfics. Unlike on Sparky's site where he was only allowed to post stories related to _101 Dalmatians_, he was allowed to post his Erik and Colin stories on the site that he'd written over the past few months. He included the first few chapters of his novel _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_. He received positive comments regarding his stories and some people even requested that he write more while others gave him some constructive criticism. This made him feel a lot better about his dream of becoming a published author, whereas the comments that he'd received at Sparky's website had only discouraged him and made him wonder whether or not he should go into another profession. He received more reviews for his stories on the website that he posted them on thanks to his new friends at the website that he'd become a part of and he was sure to thank them for their comments.

At long last, he started high school while his brothers and the Chipettes were starting their junior year of high school. The incident back in the seventh grade still lingered with him and he often found himself trying to find out how he could resolve the issue between him and Ms. Kerr. He decided to concentrate more on his schoolwork instead of concentrating on what had happened to him in the past, knowing that doing so would only distract him from what he needed to accomplish in order to pass his classes. He was grateful that he had no problems like he'd had in middle school.

Theodore set his pencil down and rose from his seat with his final science exam of the school year in his hand. He walked up to Ms. Cary's desk and handed her his test. Leaning forward, he whispered, "May I go use the restroom?"

Without looking up as she graded his test, she nodded and told him to take a hall pass with him.

Theodore found the hall pass dangling from a hook of a nearby coat rack. He put the hall pass around his neck and departed from the room only to return a few minutes later. Upon entering the room, he noticed all of the students in his class were walking around, apparently looking for something. Assuming that they were simply playing a game, he sat down at his desk and rested his head on his folded arms. When he felt someone shake him, he turned his head and his gaze fell on Ms. Cary, who seemed to be worried about something. He sat up, feeling that it was necessary since apparently the situation within the room was serious.

"Justin Fleming's yearbook is missing," Ms. Cary told Theodore. "You don't have it, do you?"

Theodore shook his head.

"Would you be all right with me searching your backpack?" the science teacher asked.

Theodore shrugged.

Ms. Cary unzipped the first pocket of the chubby chipmunk's backpack and pulled out a black yearbook with a green dragon on the cover. She gave Theodore an accusing look. "What is this doing in your backpack?"

Theodore gave her a confused look, unsure of how Justin Fleming's yearbook had ended up in his backpack. Perhaps Justin had put it in his backpack himself just to get him in trouble. After all, he and Justin weren't exactly the best of friends. Still, that didn't give Justin the right to do something just to get him in trouble. The incident reminded him of the incident back in the fourth grade when Todd LeCroy had accused him of writing a threatening letter to the black-haired boy.

Ms. Cary stood up and held up the yearbook. "Justin," she called to a tall red-haired boy with green eyes and feckles, "is this it?" She shook the yearbook that she held above her head.

Justin made his way across the room and took his yearbook from his science teacher. "Yes, it is. Thank you, Ms. Cary." He looked down at Theodore. "What were you doing with my yearbook?"

Theodore opened his mouth in an attempt to explain how befuddled he was, but no words came out. He sat with his mouth agape. He closed his mouth when the words in his throat refused to proceed out his mouth.

"Theodore, do you know how serious this is?" Ms. Cary asked. "We have a police officer here, you know, and you could go to jail for this. Sixty dollars is a lot of money, especially for a yearbook. Now, if you can't tell me why you stole Justin's yearbook in the first place, I'm going to have to report you to the office, and they'll probably suspend you."

_Theodore rose from his desk and glared at his science teacher. "Before you go accusing me of something, make sure you get your facts right!" He kicked the chair beside his own, knocking it out of his way. He stomped over to the classroom door and slammed it shut upon his departure. _

"Theodore?"

Theodore looked up at his science teacher, unsure about what to do. He knew that there was nothing he could do or say to convince her that he was innocent. Realizing this, he knew that it was pointless to say anything and that it was best if he kept his mouth shut.

Ms. Cary let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Go down to the office. I'll call ahead of time and tell them what you're doing down there. Go."

Theodore had no choice but to stand and leave the room. As he did so, he felt many eyes staring at him. He ignored them and kept his gaze to the floor. He found the set of stairs that led to the first floor in front of him upon leaving Ms. Cary's room. With his hand gliding along the handrail, he made his way down the stairs. After reaching the floor of the first set of stairs, he started down the second set of stairs, bringing him to the first floor. He passed the vending machines as he made his way to the window that gave him a view of the main office of the school that was in front of him. A white woman with short black hair and green eyes motioned for him to come to the office.

The second door in the main office was opened, leading the chubby chipmunk down a hall. After walking a couple of feet, he entered a room to his right as he'd been instructed to do. He was in Mr. Dempsey's office. The tall white man with black hair sat in his black leather chair behind his desk with his name plate placed on the front of his desk that read, "John Dempsey, Vice Principal." A tall bald black man wearing sunglasses stood by Mr. Dempsey's desk, leaning against a file cabinet with his arms crossed wearing a brown policeman's uniform. The man pointed to one of the two chairs in front of his desk and instructed Theodore to sit down. Theodore obediently sat down in front of the vice principal without saying anything to him.

"Your father has been notified of the situation," Mr. Dempsey told Theodore. "He's on his way. While we're waiting for him, why don't we discuss why you stole Justin Fleming's yearbook."

Theodore's gaze went toward the police officer leaning against the file cabinet. Being that the man's eyes were covered by his sunglasses, Theodore wasn't sure whether or not the man was asleep or awake. His eyes fell back on Mr. Dempsey's stern look. Once again, he found it hard to get the words in his throat out of his mouth. He wanted desperately to declare that he was innocent, yet he knew that no one would believe him, making his declaration that he was innocent completely pointless. All he could do was sit silently and wait for his father to arrive and, hopefully, come to his defense.

"Son," the police officer said, "you realize that theft is a felony, don't you?"

Theodore nodded as fear gripped his entire body. The idea of going to jail over something as trivial as stealing some kid's yearbook sounded ridiculous to him, but knew that stealing was stealing, regardless of the item stole, and he knew that it didn't matter whether he had stolen a yearbook or a car. Stealing was stealing and he could potentially go to jail for it. He swallowed hard, trying his best to keep the tears that were form in his eyes from coming and flowing down his face. He was scared and hoped that Dave would show up as soon as possible.

A couple of minutes passed before Dave entered Mr. Dempsey's office with an angry look on his face. Theodore hoped that his father wasn't angry at him. With his hands on his hips, Dave glared at Mr. Demspey and the police officer in the room, his gaze away from Theodore. "What's this I hear about you accusing my kid of stealing someone's yearbook?"

"Mr. Seville, the yearbook was found in Theodore's backpack," Mr. Dempsey stated. "I believe that's evidence enough. We're trying to find out the truth from Theodore, but he's not cooperating, and if he continues to refuse to cooperate, we'll have to suspend him for being defiant."

For once, Dave cast his gaze to his youngest son and noticed how scared the chubby chipmunk looked. He looked back at Mr. Dempsey. "Is that so? Did you actually see him steal this kid's yearbook?"

"No, sir." Mr. Dempsey shook his head. "According to his teacher, he was not in the room when the incident occurred. He was in the restroom."

With this new information, Dave smiled. "Really? Shouldn't that completely acquit him of the charges brought against him?"

"It should, but we'd like to hear Theodore's side of the story to make sure that what his teacher actually said was true," Mr. Dempsey declared. He turned back to Theodore.

With Dave by his side, Theodore seemed to be more comfortable in the room with the stern vice principal and the police officer who now had a pair of handcuffs in his hands, ready to handcuff him. "I was in the restroom," he told them. "I don't know how Justin Fleming's yearbook got in my backpack. Maybe you should talk to him and see if he didn't put it in my backpack to begin with. I should have taken my backpack with me to the restroom."

"Well?" Dave asked, giving the vice principal and the police officer a stern look.

"Theodore will be suspended from school until further notice," Mr. Dempsey declared. "When we get to the bottom of this, he may come back. You may go now."

Dave glared at Mr. Dempsey, but kept himself from saying anything that would only get Theodore in more trouble. "Come on, Theodore, let's get out of here."

The expression on Theodore's face matched and even rivaled the expression on his father's. He slid off the chair and went to the door of the office.

"Don't you be glaring at me, boy," Mr. Dempsey snapped. "You got yourself in this. You have no one to blame but yourself."

Dave gripped the doorknob and jerked the door open, ushering his son out the door and out of the school to his car.

"You're home early," Simon noted upon seeing Theodore in the kitchen when he walked in the door with Alvin. "What are you doing home so early?"

"The vice principal at your school accused Theodore of stealing somebody's yearbook," Dave stated. Even after four hours of being at home, he still hadn't calmed down over the incident.

"Mr. Dempsey?" Alvin guessed. "I can't stand that guy. He's such a prick."

"Well, you're not the only one," Simon told him. "Everyone at school hates him. I hope he retires or transfers to a new school soon."

"Theodore will probably be suspended for the rest of the school year," Dave went on.

"But there's only two weeks left in the school year," Alvin noted. "Does it really matter?"

"Yes," Simon declared.

"I only got three of my six final exams done," Theodore announced. "If I don't get the chance to finish, I'll be held back."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Dave stated. "I'm tempted to transfer you to a new school."

"Just give it some time, Dave," Simon suggested. "I'm sure things will cool down after a few days."

Dave nodded, agreeing with the middle child. Turning and gazing out the kitchen window, he sipped his coffee, trying his best to calm his nerves and forget about the incident that had occurred earlier within the day.

Luckily for Theodore, Justin Fleming admitted to putting his own yearbook in Theodore's backpack. After a long weekend, Theodore was allowed to continue going to school and finish up his exams before he could participate in the activities that were offered to the students as a way to congratulate them on a school year filled with hard work. He was allowed to choose where he wanted to be for the next two weeks and he chose the library so he could surf the Internet and watch videos. Luckily, he wasn't monitored during his activity on the Internet. The only thing he hated about using the computers in the library was that he had to wait for the librarian, Ms. Napier, to log him in before he could go on the Internet, unlike the computers in the computer labs where he simply clicked on the user name Student and he could access the Internet in less than two minutes.

During one of his days spent in the library, Theodore thought about how he could resolve his situation with Ms. Kerr. He felt like an explanation was in order since he'd had trouble with her, though he didn't regret what he'd done. At least he'd tried to spread the Gospel, despite his seventh grade reading teacher's objections. Using Moss Middle School's website, he found Ms. Kerr's e-mail address and typed her an e-mail.

He checked his letter to make sure that it had no misspelled words and that his punctuation and grammar were correct before sending it. Proud of himself, he went back to watching videos on YouTube, unaware that his letter would eventually come back to haunt him.

After a few days, he received an e-mail from Ms. Kerr:

_Dear Ronnie (Ms. Shuffitt), _

_I just received this e-mail and I am shocked! I can't remember, but I think I had this kid in my reading class a few years back. I know I should delete it, but I think this is a matter for the police. _

_Marsha A. Kerr_

Shaking his head, Theodore clicked on the box by the message, causing a blue check to appear in the box. Then he clicked on the "delete" button above the list of his inbox messages, causing the message from Ms. Kerr to disappear.

_September 2008_

When Theodore returned to Warren Central High School for his sophomore year in September, he and Dave were requested to attend a parent/teacher conference. Following Theodore's new guidance counselor, they walked in a small room with a long table with several chairs positioned around it. They both took a seat across from Theodore's sophomore guidance counselor. She sat with Ms. Hood, the school principal.

"What is it now?" Theodore sounded annoyed.

"Mr. Seville . . ." The guidance counselor paused, as if having trouble getting the words out. She extended the piece of paper to Dave. "Ms. Kerr received this e-mail back in May and she found it very disturbing and offensive. It was sent by your son."

Dave read the letter quietly, his eyes going to and fro across the paper.

"While she is not filing any charges, Ms. Kerr has requested that Theodore not contact her ever again," Ms. Hood told him.

"Okay, fine," Theodore agreed in an irritable tone. "Can we go now?"

"Yes, you may," Ms. Hood told him.

"Thank you." Theodore rose from his chair and stormed out of the room in a huff.

_February 2009 _

Theodore went in the gym of Warren Central High School and told his gym teacher that he had something to work on for another teacher. When Mr. Anderson, his gym teacher, gave him a nod, he left the gym with a note in his hand heading to the computer lab to work on his short story for his sophomore English class. Once again, he was writing a piece on Erik and Colin, this one featuring the two friends on a train toward Huston, Tennessee to meet their opossum friend Brenda so Colin could propose to her. He was almost done with the story, but felt that adding some extra things to it wouldn't hurt. He had come up with the title to the story fairly easily: "Ride the Rails."

After only a few short minutes of typing, the door to the computer lab was flung open and Ms. Hood walked in the room. Theodore watched as she walked over to him and requested that he go with her to the conference room. According to her, his presence was needed. He saved his story onto the flash drive that he'd brought to school with him, thanks to Simon, and followed her down the hall.

"First of all," Ms Hood told him, "you're not in trouble. We just want to talk to you about something."

Theodore said nothing, but kept walking alongside the principal. He stopped and waited as she opened a door to their right. He could see from the window that the lights in the room were turned on. As he entered the room, he recalled it as being the same room that he'd been in five months prior. He saw Dave sitting reading something from a piece of paper in his hands at one end of the table. Slowly, he made his way into the room and sat down with his gaze fixed on his father. He took the time to notice that his guidance counselor, Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Woodward–the bald black officer, and a social worker were also present in the room. He swallowed hard and didn't think that there could be anything good about what was going on.

Ms. Hood sat down across from Theodore and sighed as she folded her hands and set them on the table. "Theodore, do you remember back in September when we told you not to contact Ms. Kerr again?"

Theodore nodded. "No, not really."

"You were told specifically not to contact Ms. Kerr ever again after the email you sent her back in May. Why did you contact her again after we told you not to?" Mr. Dempsey demanded.

Theodore swallowed. He had recently added a new chapter to his story _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_, one involving a prank on Erik leading to a school shooting, and he had wanted his seventh grade reading teacher to read it and give him her opinion on it. Earlier in the day, he had sent her an e-mail requesting that she do so. He hadn't thought that doing so would have gotten him in trouble. When he told the group this, nothing but silence filled the room.

"We're very concerned about some of the things that you're writing," Ms. Hood said. She counted them on her fingers. "You're writing about gay relationships, incest, murder-"

"So you're telling me that such things do not go on in the real world?" Theodore challenged. "You can find all of that stuff within the pages of the Bible."

"True, but someone your age shouldn't be writing about that stuff."

"Need I remind you that I'm seventeen?" Theodore asked. "I'm almost an adult. It's perfectly natural that I'd write about that type of stuff."

"Theodore, you're suspended, effective immediately" Mr. Dempsey announced, "and you will be attending therapy sessions. You are scheduled to meet with your therapist as soon as you leave here."

Theodore's mouth hung open and he blinked. "Are you serious?"

"We feel like you're a threat to yourself and to the school," Mr. Dempsey explained. "Until we feel like you're mentally stable, you can return to school."

"But I am mentally stable," Theodore insisted.

"Just be glad that you're not getting arrested," Ms. Hood snapped. "Apparently, you claimed in one chapter of one of your stories that your science teacher and your math teacher were 'alcoholics and child abusers.'"

Theodore recalled featuring two fictional characters in one chapter of his story _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_. He had named the math teacher Bryan Priddy and the science teacher Joey Norman. True, his eighth grade math teacher had been called Mr. Priddy and his sophomore science teacher was named Mr. Norman, but he didn't know their first names. He'd picked Norman's name as Joey since Joey was one of his favorite characters from _Degrassi: The Next _Generation. He'd chosen Priddy's first name as Bryan since Brian was his favorite _Family Guy _character. He thought that because of the simple fact that his two fictional teachers had the same last names as his teachers that the principal automatically thought that he was talking about them. He wasn't.

"So you're suggesting that because these two teachers in this story," Dave spoke up, pointing to the paper he held in his hands, "have the same last names as some of his teachers," he pointed to Theodore, "that he's talking about them?"

"That's exactly right," Ms. Hood told him. She turned to Theodore. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

_Theodore stood up and hurtled his chair across the room before stomping out the door, grumbling to himself. _

Theodore shook his head. "No, ma'am."

"Very well," Ms. Hood said. "Being that such is the case, you are free to go. Mr. Seville, please escort your child off the premises of my school."

Dave stood and pushed his chair up to the edge of the table before leading Theodore out the door.


	4. Gone for Good

Chapter 4: Gone for Good

"Are you mad?" With a worried glance, Theodore looked over at his father as they drove to the building where he would meet his therapist.

"No, I'm not," Dave answered. "I don't approve of the stuff that you write, but I completely understand about why you do. You're a teenager and pretty much all you think about is sex. Almost all teenagers do."

Theodore sighed in relief and looked out his window. When he thought about receiving a punishment from his father, he asked, "Am I in trouble?" He was relieved when Dave shook his head.

As he looked down at his protruding stomach, Theodore recalled a _Ice Age _story that he had written that concerned the character of Sid and weight. While he did think the idea of a character like Sid becoming anorexic and bulimic as a result of the sloth thinking that he was overweight did sound far-fetched, he had thought a lot about losing weight. He was very unpopular at school and even with the Chipettes and his brothers by his side, people paid little attention to him, prompting him to believe that he would be better off with losing some weight and then he would hopefully gain some popularity. Thankfully, he had ended his story with Sid getting some help for his eating disorder after the sloth had ended up in the hospital (he had done the setting in modern times) due to an anxiety attack while attempting to kick Crash and Eddie out of the house. Unfortunately, with a damaged stomach and throat due to his constant purging, the sloth ended up dying due to a ruptured stomach.

He had also written a _Over the Hedge _story that also featured the topic of weight. This one featured the opossum character of Heather. He remembered that the topic of the opossum's mother had never been brought up for discussion in the film, which gave him the idea to have Heather overeat, thus putting on weight, as a way for her to settle the unresolved issues with her mother. Remembering that the girl in _Because of Winne Dixie _had blamed herself for her mother's departure, he had decided to add that into the story. Convincing herself that her mother had died because of her (he had developed the idea that perhaps Heather's mother had died while giving birth to her, the same way Joseph's mother had died while giving birth to Benjamin), she overate as a way for her to get past her guilt. Unlike his _Ice Age _story, he had decided to end this story on a happier note, where Heather eventually slimmed down and stopped eating as much, and he wrote that the raccoon character of RJ, who he had based Colin off of, found this disappointing since apparently the raccoon suffered from a fat fetish.

Both stories had earned Theodore some nasty comments. When he thought about it, he could clearly see why. Someone on his _Ice Age _story had written the following:

_"This is so stupid! This isn't a_ Ice Age_ story at all. Basically what you've done is you've taken the Ice Age characters (well, some of them) and you've placed them in modern times, which is stupid to do. If you would've done your research prior to writing this, you'd realize that the type of sloth that Sid is became extinct millions of years ago, so for a sloth like him to exist in modern times does not make sense." _

A female, who apparently was really into opossums as indicated by her avatar, was a lot meaner in her review of his story _Heather's Addiction_. Her review was hard for Theodore to read without getting mad at her for her rude comments. Her review read:

_I can't believe I actually sat here and read this entire ball of shit! There are so many problems with this story that I don't even know where to begin. First off, the plot is ridiculous. If Heather is confused about the whereabouts of her mother, why doesn't she ask someone who knew her mother (say, her father, for example?) instead of making a pig out of herself? And the idea of a 120-pound opossum is not only ridiculous, but unrealistic. The idea of a raccoon suffering from a fat fetish is disturbing, and the constant talk of Heather's butt is not only disgusting, but also disturbing. What goes through your head when you write this shit? Apparently, you have no good taste in literature if you think this shit is considered good writing. _

_But I can excuse all of that-all of it-when I come to my next point. In the middle of the story, the plot is completely changed from Heather bitching and moaning about her mother and making herself look like a pig to yet another dreadful story of RJ and Hammy fucking each other. I had the temptation to stop reading right then and there, but I chose not to since I was curious as to how you ended this fuck-fest. _

_Let me just say that the ending was awful, and I mean _awful_! For starters, the original plotline is completely done away with and none of the characters reference it. Instead, they're all faced with the option of allowing two gay lovers into their family or making them leave. What shocks me is that almost all the characters are perfectly fine with the idea of RJ and Hammy being gay, whereas Verne is presented as a homophobic asshole. And what the hell was the deal with making Heather and Stella lesbians? That in itself had absolutely nothing to do with the story at all and should never have been included in the first place. But I will say this: You, sir, have a real talent for ruining characters and writing poorly written stories. Please, write some more! _

_Thank you for ruining an hour and thirty minutes of my life. I feel like going to throw up now. Since such is the case, I will _not_ be reading another one of your god-awful stories since apparently you have no conception of what is good literature. _

Theodore hadn't replied to her review, feeling that only doing so would erupt in a fight. He knew how to deal with people like her: ignore them no matter what they say. Such people, in his opinion at least, were not worth getting into a fight with and only wanted attention. He was grateful for the positive reviews that he had received for both stories, but chose not to delete the negative reviews, although he did have the option to do so.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden squeal of brakes. He was lurched forward as the car came to a stop in front of a brick structure. In front of him was a door with a sign on it that read, "Robert Bruce Fayne, Certified Psychologist." He got out of the car and went in the building with Dave.

The room that they entered was small and rectangular with two white doors at both ends and a white counter with a window between them that showed the main office of the building. A rug covered the tiled floor. At one end of the room, beside one of the white doors, was a couch with a table beside it that had several magazines on top of it. At the other end was a different couch with a different table next to it, this one also with several magazines on it.

Dave went up to the white counter that was between the two white doors and spoke to the woman seated at the desk behind the window while Theodore sat down at one end of the room with his arms folded and his legs crossed. "Excuse me. I'm here with my son Theodore. He's scheduled to meet with Bruce Fayne today at three o' clock."

The woman observed a piece of paper attached to a clipboard and nodded while she chewed a piece of gum. "Yes, I have him right here. Just have a seat, Mr. Seville. He'll be right with you in a few moments."

"Thank you." Dave joined his son on the couch and thumbed through a magazine while he waited for Bruce Fayne to call them back to his office. He ran a hand through the hair on his troubled son's head and smiled. "Don't worry, Theodore, everything's going to be all right."

The door to their left was opened. A man with golden brown hair and a golden brown goatee stood in front of them. He wore a light blue button-down long-sleeve shirt, beige pants, a black belt, black socks, and black shoes. A yellow tie with black and white stripes danged from the collar of his shirt. He was slightly overweight, a lot heavier than Theodore. He looked down at the two of them and raised his eyebrows. He pointed to Theodore and asked, "Are you Theodore Seville?"

Theodore nodded.

"Come with me," the man instructed, motioning with his finger. "Mr. Seville, I'll be with you in a moment." He turned and walked down the hall with Theodore behind him. He stopped and pointed to a room that was lit up by a single fluorescent light and whose door was ajar. Once Theodore was in the room, he walked in himself and closed the door. He knelt down to become eye-level with Theodore, who sat in a black leather chair in front of a desk. "This is a psychological exam." He pointed to the booklet lying in front of Theodore. "This will help us indicate whether or not you have any mental disorders."

Theodore gave no reply. He knew that saying that he suffered from no mental disorders was pointless. He took the pencil lying beside the booklet and opened it.

"You may answer the questions using this," Bruce added, pointing to a Scan Tron. "When you are finished, let me know and I will analyze it." He patted Theodore on the back. "Good luck." He turned and left the room, closing the door and leaving Theodore alone with his thoughts.

Theodore examined the Scan Tron. It looked exactly like the ones he used for his tests during school. He read the first question and bubbled-in his answer on the Scan Tron. He wasn't sure how many questions there were to be answered. The only thing he was concerning himself with was getting the test over and done with so he could get home. He desperately wanted to take a nap. Regardless of his desires, he forced himself to continue the test until he was finally done with it. In all, there were fifty-four questions. When he had completed the test, he went in the hall until he found Bruce and he led the psychologist back to the room.

Bruce closed the door and took a seat beside Theodore, stating that he wanted to talk to Theodore first before he took the chipmunk's test to analyze it. They faced each other, peering into each other's eyes. Bruce sat with his hands folded on his stomach while Theodore sat with one leg bent and crossed over the other and his arms crossed, still feeling angry about the incident that had occurred in the conference room over an hour ago.

"How did you get here?" Bruce asked.

_"Uh, I drove here," Theodore said. "Duh! What are you, an idiot?" _

Theodore shrugged. He honestly had no clue what he was doing seeing a psychologist. To the extent of his knowledge, his principal thought he was mentally disturbed.

Bruce went on with his next question. "Do you know why you're here."

Theodore shook his head and replied, "No."

"You're scaring people. You're scaring people with your stories, with your talk about suicide, depression, cutting, eating disorders, alcoholism, and murder."

_"Well, forgive me for making my stories realistic instead of writing stories where everything is all hunky-dory and no one has any problems whatsoever," Theodore replied. _

Theodore sat quietly, facing the man without saying a word. When he heard Bruce say the words "depression" and "suicide," he recalled his first story involving Erik and Colin that he'd written back in the seventh grade, when he'd first developed the characters. the story involved Erik's depression over his life and how the fat skunk had wanted to kill himself.

He had written a similar story involving Sid the sloth from _Ice Age. _He had gotten the idea for the story after watching an episode of _Degrassi _that dealt with child abuse and the character of Craig had, for some odd reason, reminded him of Sid, inspiring him to write his own story on child abuse. In his story, Sid lived with his abusive alcoholic father. Since Craig had reminded him so much of Sid, and he still couldn't figure out why, Theodore had decided to have Sid wear a white T-shirt underneath a black leather jacket and the chipmunk couldn't help but think that the image in his head looked good. It wasn't until he ran away that Sid finally told Diego about the situation at home, provoking the saber-toothed tiger to intervene. Theodore had ended the story with Sid living with Diego until he graduated from high school and got his own place.

"Do you have anything to say?" Bruce asked.

Theodore shook his head, trying to keep himself from saying the words in his head, the words that he so desperately wanted to yell. He sat motionless, the same scowl that he'd had on his face upon hearing about why he was being suspended from school.

"Very well then," Bruce said. He leaned forward and took the test that remained on the desk. "I'll take this and have it scanned and I'll call you back here in a few days, okay?"

Theodore nodded and rose from his seat, eager to leave the building and return home. He was silent on the drive home, feeling that there was little to nothing to say to his father about what had gone on with him and Bruce. He imagined that his father and Bruce had talked while he had been busy with the test that Bruce had given him. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Bruce anytime soon.

Alvin, Simon, and the Chipettes were outraged when they heard about the situation with Theodore. They threatened to give Ms. Hood and Mr. Dempsey a piece of their minds, but Dave talked them out of it, though he completely understood why they were ticked off at the school, and he couldn't help but agree with them when they said that Theodore had every right to be mad at the school. He knew as well as they did that Theodore would continue to write about controversial topics, such as suicide and abusing drugs. He knew as well as they did that as a writer, Theodore would always be writing about controversial stuff that would upset some people while other people would nod and agree with what he wrote. What Theodore wrote was not just a phase that he was going through. The chubby chipmunk would continue to write about such topics since he would be a novelist as soon as he got out of college.

While they were busy waiting to hear back from Bruce about Theodore's test results, Theodore and Dave received something in the mail regarding Theodore's chances of returning to school. Since the matter concerned him, Dave had no objections to allowing Theodore to read the contents that were provided in the brown envelope, but requested that his son let him read through them first before he could do so himself.

Later on with a mug of coffee by his side, Theodore sat at the kitchen table looking through the stack of papers that had come in the envelope. He lifted his mug of coffee and took a drink, then set it back down as he began to read the allegations brought against him.

_Dear Mr. Seville, _

_Your son, Theodore Seville, a sophomore at Warren Central High School, is required to attend a meeting with the school board in order to return to school. The date has been set for the eighteenth day of February in the year 2009. It is suggested that you bring Theodore with you along with the results of the psychological test that he took on the second day of February. These results will determine the overall mental health of Theodore and will also determine his eligibility to return to school. You are to report to the school board building on 5th and Main no later than three o' clock in the afternoon. Thank you. _

_Tim Murley_

_Superintendent of Warren County Public Schools_

Shaking his head and biting his lower lip in anger, Theodore turned the page and kept reading.

_On the twenty-seventh day of May in the year 2008, Ms. Kerr, an English teacher at Moss Middle School, received an e-mail from Theodore Seville using her school e-mail address. Theodore was requested to have no further contact with the teacher on the third day of September. _

_On the second day of February in the year 2009, Ms. Kerr received another e-mail from Theodore, this one requesting that she read a story that he had written called _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_, giving her a link to his own personal web page. _

_In the forty-first chapter of this story, two Warren County teachers are referenced and are called "alcoholics and child abusers." This chapter went on to contain sexual explicit behavior and other inappropriate material. _

Theodore bit down hard on his lower lip. That was a lie! He had included no such thing in chapter forty-one of his story. He had written that Colin and Brenda's daughter Emily had done a report on the two teachers for the school paper, proving that the rumors surrounding them were not true. He hadn't even mentioned anything about sex in the chapter. He supposed he could see where the school was coming from, though.

He had a science teacher by the name of Mr. Norman and he decided to use his last name. Being that teachers weren't on a first name basis with their students, he didn't know the first names of any of his teachers. So, he just picked two first names that went well with the two last names that he had. He'd chosen Priddy's name as Bryan because Brian Griffin was his favorite character from the animated show _Family Guy_, and he picked Norman's first name as Joey because Joey was one of his favorite characters from _Degrassi: The Next Generation_.

In the aforementioned chapter of _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_, Erik and Colin suspected Priddy and Norman of being child abusers and alcoholics. Somehow, this theory was turned into a rumor that was spread all around school and Priddy and Norman are close to being fired. It was then that Erik and Colin, working as journalists, decided to interview the two teachers to see if these rumors were true. The rumors were proven to be false. He forced himself to continue reading.

_After becoming aware of the situation, Officer Glenn Woodward and I myself became involved with the investigation. _

Theodore blinked. "They're getting the cops involved in this? Oh, my God, come on! Are you kidding me? All of this over a freaking story! Jesus!"

_Theodore has since been suspended from school and is required to attend a meeting with the school board in order to determine whether or not he is eligible to return to school. The date has been set for the eighteenth day of February at four o' clock in the afternoon. _

_Lisa Hood_

_Principal of Warren Central High School, former vice principal of Henry F. Moss Middle School _

Theodore turned the page to discover that an excerpt from _The Adventures of Erik and Colin _was included–the forty-first chapter of his novel. With his eyes going from left to right, he read the passage and grinned when he discovered that Ms. Hood had lied to the school board upon saying that the chapter contained inappropriate material.

The remaining papers that filled the stack were nothing more than his school records from elementary school to his current year in high school. While he wasn't satisfied with his grades, he was satisfied with the fact that he'd done well enough to pass each grade without the fear of being held back, though he had come close to it back in the seventh grade since two passing grades in English–one in language arts and the other in reading–were required for him to pass on to the eighth grade. He made mostly "B's" and "C's," but sometimes worked hard enough to earn an "A."

Theodore was so ticked off that he didn't finish his coffee. He simply poured the rest of it in the sink and rinsed out the coffee stains, sending them down the drain, never to be seen again.

He thought about why he wrote about sex in the first place. When he recalled that he had read the book _Speak _by Laurie Halse Anderson, a book that was about a girl getting raped at a party that included the rape scene, last year in his freshman year, he realized that it was the school's fault for him writing sexual material since the book had influenced him to do so. Upon finishing the book, his English teacher Mr. Miller had also allowed them to watch the film that also included the graphic rape scene. After reading the book and seeing the film, he had assumed that it was perfectly okay for him to mimic the material that he'd been presented with in his English class. Apparently, such was not the case.

A few months ago in his sophomore English class, he had read the book _To Kill A Mockingbird _by Harper Lee, which he had found very upsetting since it included the racial slur for blacks several times, and had watched a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play _Julius Caesar_ that included a graphic scene in which Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. These two instances had also influenced him greatly, causing him to believe that using offensive language and writing scenes with graphic violence wasn't wrong. He had been proven wrong.

When he considered the fact that the school had impacted his writing so deeply, it irritated him to no end when he was the one getting in trouble for writing exactly what he was influenced by in his classes. Instead of punishing him for doing what he thought was acceptable, he thought that they should have been banning the things that he was being influenced by, starting with the book that he was currently reading.

In his backpack was a book by the name of _Twisted_, also written by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book contained alcoholism, offensive language, sexual material, violence, and juvenile delinquent behavior. Earlier within the year he had read another book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, this one being about a girl who suffered from anorexia nervosa, which had inspired him to write his _Ice Age _and _Over the Hedge _stories that had dealt with weight. He wasn't surprised by the fact that he had enjoyed writing his _Over the Hedge _story more than he had his _Ice Age _story. Nonetheless, he had also enjoyed writing his _Ice Age _story.

A few days prior to his meeting with the school board, Theodore was requested to return to Bruce Fayne's office with his father to speak with him. Theodore sat beside his father while Bruce sat in front of them slumped in his chair with his left leg bent and crossed over his right and his hands resting on his stomach, folded.

Bruce spun slightly in his chair, looking at the two people seated in front of him. He smiled, then lowered his left leg and leaned forward to grab the test results from his desk. Studying them, he announced, "Well, the good news is that Theodore is mentally well. There's nothing wrong with him mentally or physically. He's perfectly healthy."

"Well, we knew that," Dave told him.

Bruce ignored Dave's comment and set the test results back on his desk before facing the two of them once again. "I do not want this sort of thing happening again. That is why I'm requesting that Theodore delete his stories from the website that he's been posting them on."

"Mr. Fayne, I have read Theodore's stories," Dave told him, "and I can assure you that the only offensive one on there is _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_. Every other one is appropriate. Need I remind you that there is a rating system on the site?"

Bruce shook his head. "I don't care. I want every last story on his account taken off the site."

Theodore decided that he'd had enough and he finally exploded. "I don't think so!" With fists shaking at his sides, he stood up and glared at Bruce. "I am not deleting my stories from that site. I have worked too hard on them to have them deleted. I am so fed up with you and everyone else making me out to look like I'm some loony!' He jammed a finger at the air as he pointed to Bruce. "Let me tell you something, buddy! There is nothing wrong with my writing and anyone who thinks so is wrong! If you pay attention to the media, Einstein, lots of it is sexual and we as a nation spend millions and millions of dollars each year on porn!"

Silence filled the room as the enraged chipmunk stood trembling with anger. Both men in the room stared at him. Bruce's expression remained the same as it had been upon the chipmunk's arrival with his father while Dave looked at his son in awe.

"If you don't delete them yourself," Bruce said, "I'll do it myself."

Theodore growled and raised his hand, ready to strike the psychologist in front of him. He was stopped when Dave requested that he leave the room so he and Bruce could talk alone. The chipmunk obediently left the room, feeling that some fresh air would do him some good. He stormed out of the building and rested his hands on the hood of Dave's car. He lifted his gaze to the night sky and closed his eyes as a gentle breeze blew, allowing a smile to form on his face. He let out a sigh, feeling his anger leave him.

When he thought about how much good his stories had done for his fans on , many of whom had come to realize Christ as their Lord and Savior thanks to his stories, he grew irritated when he considered the idea of deleting all of his stories, the ones he had worked so hard to improve on. As a result of his hard work, he had started to receive more positive reviews. Even those who had once given him negative reviews congratulated him on how much he had grown as a writer over the years. He had been a member of the site since the eleventh of October back in 2007, and he wasn't about to let all of his hard work go to waste simply because some nut job thought that it was in his best interest if he delete his stories. They were his stories to delete. Even if his life depended on it, he wouldn't delete them, not when there were still more lost souls out in the world that needed the Word to help them see the light. Even after his death, he hoped that his stories would continue to aid those struggling in their faith and help others come to realize Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Feeling a rush of air, he turned to see his father departing the building. He got in the car on the passenger side as soon as his father unlocked the door, eager to get home and go to bed so he could forget about the incident that had occurred in Bruce's office.

Simon was nowhere to be found when Theodore and Dave got home. The chipmunk's laptop was gone, indicating that he'd gone to work–he was a cleaner at a hotel. Unfortunately for Theodore, there was still one other method they could try to get his stories off the site: the PlayStation 3.

After connecting the PlayStation 3 to the Internet, Theodore went to log in as TheodoreSeville85. Alvin stood beside him with the order from Dave to make sure that Theodore deleted every one of his stories from the site. The only problem that prevented him from doing so was that he wasn't able to do so using the PlayStation 3. Upon discovering this, Alvin took out his phone and dialed Simon's phone number.

Reclining against a pillow with his legs stretched out on the double bed in the hotel room that he cleaned every night, Simon sat with his laptop in his lap and his phone resting on the nightstand beside him, getting its battery charged through the charger that was connected to his phone and plugged into the wall outlet positioned behind the nightstand. The lamp that rested on the nightstand was turned on while the light on the spinning fan above him, which provided a comforting breeze, was turned off. It provided him with just enough light to see the keys on his keyboard, though light was not necessary for him since he was quite highly skilled at typing without having to look at the keys.

Simon loved his job because it only took one hour to do. His job was simple: clean the same room every night. The room that he found himself in every night needed constant cleaning from the constant dust that filled the air in the room. Sadly, after only one hour had passed, he found himself having to dust off the furniture once again since a large amount of dust coated each piece of furniture. Since he found this greatly annoying, he eventually stopped cleaning the furniture every hour and only cleaned the furniture one hour each night, leaving him plenty of time to surf the Internet on his laptop until he grew too tired to do anything else but go to sleep.

He jumped and felt his heartbeat increase while his breath became heavy when he heard his phone ring, shattering the silence that had once filled the air. He lowered his headphones, allowing them to dangle over his neck as he opened his phone and pressed it to his ear. "Yes?"

"Simon, are you busy at the moment?" Alvin asked.

Simon heard himself groan and roll his eyes as he figured that the only reason why Alvin would be calling him this late was so he could get his homework done in a hurry using Simon's knowledge. Rubbing his eyes, he answered, "No. Why?" He had a pretty good idea about what Alvin would say: _"'Cause I need you to help me with my algebra homework." _He could practically hear Alvin's voice saying those exact words in his head. He was shocked by Alvin's response.

"'Cause I need you to delete Theodore's stories off that fanfiction website."

Simon knew that one particular story of Theodore's had gotten him in trouble, but he hadn't thought that one story would lead to the chipmunk having to delete all of his stories off the site. He had read the stories himself and had told Theodore that he'd become a very good writer over the years. Why Theodore was having to delete all of his stories, he didn't know, but he knew that to do so was probably very difficult for Theodore. He had seen how hard Theodore had worked to improve on his stories, filling the wastepaper basket full to the point where it was overflowing with ideas on how to make his stories better or rewriting his stories over and over again, never satisfied with what he'd written like any true writer. The only thing that he could manage to say was, "Why?"

"That quack that Theodore has been seeing told him to," Alvin said.

Once again, Simon groaned and rubbed his eyes. He was starting to get tired and didn't feel like upsetting his little brother, knowing that deleting Theodore's stories would probably cause the chipmunk to give up on writing entirely. "I really don't want to do this, Alvin."

"Hey, imagine how I feel. I'm the one who's got to tell you to go through with it."

"Do I really have to do this? I mean, can't I delete the one that caused all of this?"

"Believe me, I wish you could, but that's not the case. You have to delete all of them, Simon."

Sighing and shaking his head with a feeling of queasiness in his stomach, Simon moved the cursor on the screen to the address bar. "Okay, I'm on my way there now." In just a few seconds, he found himself on the home page of the site. He clicked on the option "log in" and the log in screen appeared in a matter of seconds. "I need his e-mail address and his password if I'm going to do this, Alvin." _Theodore, forgive me. _

Placing a hand over the receiver of his phone, Alvin turned to Theodore. "He needs your e-mail address and your password." He noticed how reluctant Theodore was to give him the information and he didn't blame his little brother for not wanting to. Still, the deed had to be done if they wished for Theodore to get out of trouble and go back to school. He repeated the information he was given by Theodore to Simon, then said good-bye to his brother and closed his phone. He put a hand on Theodore's shoulder, causing the chipmunk to meet his gaze. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Theodore simply nodded and silently changed into his pajamas, then climbed into his bed and turned on his side to go to sleep.

"There, done." Pressing down on the left mouse button, Simon clicked on the option "yes" that was above the question, "Are you sure you want to delete this story?" He clicked on the option "My Stories" and a message appeared on the screen: "You have no stories posted." Sighing heavily, he clicked on the "X" button, returning him to his desktop background. He closed his laptop and set it aside before finally burying his body underneath the covers of the double bed and going to sleep with his head and heart full of regret and the feeling of queasiness still evident in his stomach.


	5. Suspended

Chapter 5: Suspended

Alvin and Simon decided to go with Dave and Theodore to the meeting with the school board to support their little brother. Alvin sat beside his little brother while Simon sat in the passenger seat and Dave sat in the driver's seat. The effect of having Theodore's stories deleted from the site still lingered in the household. As a result, Theodore had thrown the notebooks that contained his novel _The Adventures of Erik and Colin _in the trash, sending them to a landfill somewhere, never to be seen by humankind ever again. Surprisingly, such an act hadn't been hard for him to do, probably because his love of writing had been killed thanks to the recent events that had occurred in the short amount of time.

Alvin gently patted Theodore's hand that rested on his knee in hopes that this would cheer him up, but to no avail. The expression on Theodore's face, which Alvin could see from the reflection on the window since Theodore's back was turned to him, was full of worry and sadness. Alvin felt sorry for his little brother. Because of one misunderstanding, the chubby chipmunk's world had been turned upside-down, sending his hopes and dreams of becoming a novelist down the tubes. To make matters worse, there was nothing neither he nor anyone else could say to rekindle the chipmunk's love of writing.

"Should we go in now?" Simon asked.

Dave checked the digital clock on the screen of his car that was surrounded by buttons and knobs. "No. We have five minutes left." He turned in his seat to look at Alvin. "Alvin, how's Theodore doing?" He frowned when Alvin shook his head, indicating that Theodore was still deeply depressed over what had happened over the past few days. "Don't worry, Theodore, it'll be all right."

Theodore kept his gaze out his window, refusing to say anything. Over the past couple of days, he hadn't felt like doing anything but sleeping. Along with his love of writing, his appetite seemed to have vanished as well as a result of having his dreams crushed by the people at the school that he attended. Because of this, he was looking forward to the day when he would graduate from the school and move on to college. When that day came, the first thing he would do was post his stories back on the site, and there wasn't a thing anyone could do about it. They couldn't say or do anything that would change his mind and make him consider about doing something otherwise. If he had to wait two years just so he could post his stories online, then he was willing to wait two years, though he hoped that the chance to post his stories back online came sooner than later.

"Okay, let's go in," Dave suggested. He opened his car door and stepped outside with his three sons, then led them into the building, passing a flag pole that waved the American flag that towered above the building as it blew in the wind. Upon their entry, they were greeted by Tim Murley, the superintendent, and Ms. Hood. They followed the two of them through a door and down a hall. At the end of the hall was an open door that they went through, entering a conference room that was smaller than the conference room at Warren Central High School. They took their seats.

Tim was a tall man with gray eyes and short brown hair. He wore a white button-down long-sleeve tie, beige pants, and black shoes with black shoes. A black tie with red and white stripes dangled from his shirt collar. "First off," he began, "let's review why we're here." He turned to the blond-haired woman sitting beside him. "Ms Hood, would you like to start us off?"

Ms. Hood nodded. "As you all know, Theodore e-mailed a teacher at Moss Middle School requesting that she read a story that he'd written and had posted on the Internet. This story was very vulgar in nature and contained a lot of inappropriate material, including foul language, sexual content, scenes of graphic violence, some scenes in which characters were either drinking, smoking, or gambling, but that is not the reason why we're here. We're here today because Theodore mentioned two teachers in his story and said that they were alcoholics and child abusers. Whether or not such is true is beside the point. This is a very serious matter and we are looking at a few months in jail if this is not resolved."

"May I say something?" Alvin asked.

"Certainly," Tim told him. "All opinions are respected here."

Alvin took a breath before speaking. "Okay, first of all, he's a teenager, all right? He's going to write material that is intended for adult audiences because he's almost an adult himself. Being that such is the case, it makes perfect sense why he would write about sex, drugs, alcohol, and all of that."

"That may be true, Alvin," Dave said, "but I think that the school is to blame for what Theodore has been writing."

Ms. Hood gave him an angry look. "Excuse me? Are you questioning my skills as a principal?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." Dave took out a book from his coat. It had a black background with a red twisted pencil that had a blue eraser on the cover. It was the book that Theodore had been reading for the past couple of weeks: _Twisted_. Theodore had agreed to let him read the book and take notes on it in hopes that it would help his case. "This specific book contains the same things that were discovered in Theodore's story _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_: sexual content, violence, language, and alcoholism. I have been told your students read these same types of books in their classes."

Ms. Hood nodded. "Yes, that's right. It's part of the curriculum."

"Really?" Dave handed the book to Tim. "I'll let you have a look at that, superintendent." He took out a notepad from his coat and handed it to Tim. The notepad contained his notes that he'd written down as he'd read the book. "Granted, it is a good book."

Tim thumbed through the book, then began examining the notes that Dave had written down. He nodded his head as he read a few of them while at other times his head remained motionless. He read a few excerpts from the book out loud. "I can see how this could be considered inappropriate."

"Theodore is very impressionable," Simon declared. "We want to make sure that he isn't able to get his hands on this type of filth." He sneered and pointed to the book that Tim held in his hands. "It's a bad influence on not only him, but the rest of the student body."

Tim nodded. "I see." He closed the book and set it down on the table. "What are some possible solutions to the problem at hand?"

"Extended suspension," Ms. Hood suggestion.

"Supervision at school," Alvin spoke up.

"Escort to class," Simon added.

Tim shook his head. "Theodore, do you understand why you're here?"

Theodore nodded, though he was thinking of the answer no in his head.

Ms. Hood turned to Dave. "Mr. Seville, do you have the results of the psychological test in your possession?"

Dave nodded and pulled out the test results of the psychological test from his coat, then handed them to the blond-haired woman sitting across from him.

With her superior, Ms. Hood read the test results, proving to her and her boss, Mr. Tim Murley, that Theodore was perfectly healthy both mentally and physically.

"Okay," Tim added, sighing, "here's what we're going to do. Theodore will return to school, but he will have to be monitored while on the computer."

"You mean he'll have to have someone looking over his shoulder at his every move while on the computer?" Dave asked.

"Yes," Ms. Hood said. "That's exactly right."

"That's invasion of privacy," Alvin told her, glaring.

"When it comes to the well-being of our students, Mr. Seville, no, it isn't," Tim said to Alvin. "In the meantime, I will be monitoring Theodore's behavior on the computer myself through remote access."

"Mr. Seville," Ms. Hood said, "before we can allow Theodore to return to school, we need you to sign this contract." She handed Dave a yellow piece of paper that she took out of her purse.

Dave examined the piece of paper. "What is it?"

"It's a document stating that Theodore is not a danger to himself or others around him and that he agrees to the conditions upon his return to school." She looked over at Theodore. "Theodore, you will have to sign as well. By signing this contract, you agree to the conditions of you returning to school and that you completely understand the reasons for your suspension."

Theodore said nothing. He took the paper from his father and signed his name on the line that was above the phrase "student's signature." He handed the paper back to Ms. Hood.

"Well, I suppose that's it," Ms. Hood said. "Theodore, you may go. Thank you all for coming."

Dave said nothing as he led his boys down the hall. He had a feeling that all three of them were thinking the same thing. They all thought that having someone to monitor Theodore's behavior while on the Internet to be ridiculous and uncomfortable for Theodore. They all also seemed to think that the school was taking the situation with Theodore's story too far when it came to having to attend therapy and also attend a meeting with the school board just so he could go back to school.

"This is bullshit," Simon hissed to Alvin.

Alvin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is."

Dave agreed to let Alvin and Simon stay home from school with Theodore, knowing that they were too upset with the school board to concentrate on anything else. Luckily, they were able to get their minds off the situation with the school by watching a couple of hours of television before going to bed.

Theodore returned to school after two weeks of suspension. He occupied himself during the time by doing some reading and writing with the age-old method of using a pen and a notebook. He found it hard to begin writing again, but found that doing so kept his mind occupied and kept him from thinking about the recent trouble he'd gotten into, all because a certain overweight skunk had wanted to get his revenge on the bullies who had harassed him day after day while the faculty and staff of the school chose to do nothing. He tried his hand at drawing as well, but after failing to draw his characters properly, he eventually gave up and stuck to writing instead. When he wasn't reading, writing, playing video games, or watching television, he could be found sleeping. He quickly found that sleeping was his best means of forgetting about what had happened between him and the school. He didn't surprise himself or his family when he stated that he wasn't looking forward to going back to school.

While Theodore went back to school, Dave was busy looking for an alternate school to send Theodore to. If his child was constantly going to be harassed by the faculty and staff of the school that he was currently attending, then he was going to do everything in his power to get Theodore transferred to a new school. He spoke with Bruce Fayne about possibly homeschooling Theodore and the psychologist disagreed with his plan, stating that for him to do so wouldn't provide Theodore with the atmosphere he needed to socialize with other students his age, even if Theodore was a couple of years older than the students in his grade. However, Bruce did agree to help Dave find an alternate school that Theodore could attend instead of going to Warren Central High School.

Theodore was required to attend counseling sessions at his school at least once a week to help him with the supposed issues that he was struggling with. He met with his guidance counselor, named Jennifer Murphy, each Wednesday during his fourth period class. On one such session, he requested that she give him permission to go to the computer lab so he could finish his story for his English class. With it being over a week overdue, he wanted to finish it and turn it in as soon as possible. Despite this fact, he was certain that his English teacher would excuse him from a failing grade considering the situation that the chipmunk found himself in with the school. Jennifer agreed and handed him a note. Upon his departure from the room, he was told by Nancy Burch, a fellow guidance counselor, that Jennifer would call his fifth period teacher to alert her as to where he would be and for how long.

There was a teacher seated at a computer when Theodore walked in the computer lab. She had tanned skin and short graying blond hair. The circular lenses to her glasses appeared to be too big for her face and the nose piece that connected the two together kept sliding down the bridge of her nose, causing her to push them back up on her face. She wore a zebra print button-down short-sleeve shirt with a black shirt underneath with ankle-length pants and black high heels. "Are you supposed to be in here?"

Theodore turned to her and held up the sticky note he held in his hand. "I have permission to be in here. I have to finish a paper for English."

"From whom specifically do you have permission from to be in here, sir?" She pushed her glasses back up to her nose.

Theodore swallowed. All he wanted to do was finish his story as quickly as possible, get it printed out, and turn it in to his English teacher. He didn't feel like playing the game Twenty Questions. All he had to do to complete his story was write the ending, and he already had it written out in his head. To complete his story, he simply had to transfer the words in his head to the document on the computer screen. He decided to answer the teacher's question. "I have permission from my guidance counselor."

"Are you aware that you can only be in here if you have the written permission of a teacher?" She glared at him.

Theodore shook his head.

"Then I'm sorry." She turned back to her computer and resumed her typing. "You'll have to leave. You can't be in here unless you have permission from your teacher."

Theodore felt his hand form into a fist, crumpling up the sticky note he held in his hand. He felt a scowl replace the calm expression on his face that had once been on it. His body shook with rage as he contemplated whether or not he should give the teacher in front of him a piece of his mind. He thought that the action of continuing his short story would be best. Ignoring the teacher's request for him to leave, he walked over to a nearby computer and logged in, then jammed the flash drive that he had with him into the USB port of the computer, then waited for the file on the flash drive to be uploaded to the computer.

"Sir," the teacher barked angrily, "did you not hear me? You're not supposed to be in here. Go back to class before I report you to the office."

Theodore ignored her and kept his eyes fixed on the computer screen.

"Sir!" She stood up and began to march over to the chubby chipmunk. She suddenly stopped in her tracks when the door to the computer lab was swung open and Mr. Dempsey entered the room with the second vice principal: Mr. Tom Wilson. Upon being told that they would take care of the situation, she sat back down at her desk and continued her typing.

Theodore didn't seem to notice the sudden arrival of the two vice principals. With his fingers flying across the keyboard, he began typing the ending to his short story.

"Theodore Seville?"

Theodore froze as he heard Mr. Dempsey's voice. Slowly, he turned his head to see the vice principal standing beside him with Mr. Wilson by his side.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mr. Dempsey demanded.

Theodore pointed to the computer screen. "I'm finishing my story for English."

"You're supposed to be in class," Mr. Wilson told him. "Now unless you have permission to be in here, we'll have to assume that you're skipping."

Theodore felt around on his sweater in search of the sticky note that he had once held in his hand. When he couldn't find it, he began to panic. He was pushed aside by Mr. Dempsey, who clicked on the Firefox symbol on the bar of symbols at the bottom of the screen, bringing up the general lobby section of the website that was the self-proclaimed number one _Corneil & Bernie _fan website.

Mr. Dempsey scanned the list of usernames underneath the section identified as the posters to the topics on the left. He looked over at Theodore. "Which name is yours?"

_It isn't any of your business. _Theodore pointed to his name that was beside the topic "My Weekend," a description of what had happened to him at school on February the sixth, an incident that had occurred precisely two weeks ago. He had received nothing but support from his friends on the website.

_You Crazy: That stinks that a school would be so dumb as to think you'd be unstable for reading more from an author they gave to you in the first place. (shakes head)_

_Vince: I really don't think you should have gotten suspended for that. A lot of times, people take their anger out in their writing. No matter what they write about does not reflect on who they really are. Somebody that writes about a psychotic killer is usually not one. _

_Seawa: Man, that stinks. What a terrible school district you are in, Theodore. _

_Erin: I'm so sorry to hear that, Theodore. That teacher was wrong to react the way she did. _

_Theodore: I couldn't agree more, Erin. I honestly did not expect her to tell the school board. All I wanted was some feedback. _

_Omar: So according to you, you actually mention a couple of your teachers and have a scene in which a school shooting is taking place. Honestly, that could be the reason why your teacher overreacted to your story. I'm not taking your teacher's side for what happened to you, but a school shooting is taken seriously nowadays after what happened at Columbine and Virginia Tech. Now I'm not saying that you're planning on a school shooting based on the fact that you dislike these teachers (I'm still curious as to why you mentioned them in your story in the first place), but maybe you could have said that differently in your story. Also, you might want to change the names around if your teachers are in your story. _

_In my opinion, I believe you should have finished your "Erik and Colin" story. You could have always gone back and looked over your chapters, maybe find things you need to change in your story. People seem to find an excuse to say that something will corrupt somebody into doing something bad later in their life, which, in my opinion, is bullshit, but that's a different issue and I'll stick to the subject at hand. _

_Anyway, you have a real talent for writing stories. Don't let people tell you any different. One never knows. You could be the next person to have a great thriller, horror, or mystery book that people will buy. I am thrilled to hear you say that you are planning on starting a new story! _

_Dr. Belch: I agree with Omar. Change the names and set the story in a different school, in a different state, even, especially if you're going to make libelous claims against members of the staff and/or administration. Now I'm glad I didn't start writing until after I graduated college (most of which is based on my time here). Actually, this whole experience sounds like a story in itself–shortsighted teacher, overreactionary administration, well-meaning but fumblesome parents, and a psychologist who sounds like a living stereotype of every bad shrink there is. Telling you to stop writing? What does he do for an encore, recommend suicide? I bet he's a Jungian–left-learning glorified nannies like that quack give the whole profession a poor name. They're little more that a tool of lazy parents and overburdened schools who try to shuffle their "problem kids" onto someone else instead of actually addressing the problem directly. _

_Maybe you should show your work to a trusted religious official and ask for advice. I lent my pastor a copy of my last book, and he seemed to enjoy it, even with the adult language and sexual themes. He read through it in a day. I should ask him over for dinner for a more in-depth review/critique. . . . _

_Theodore: He said he'd written two books himself and said that if I read a book by Edgar Allan Poe that discussed writing, I'd realize what a fool I was to think that I could write. He said that the people who think they can write honestly don't know the first thing about writing. _ _Um, I've studied Poe and I don't recall reading anything at all that says that he wrote a book on writing. What pissed me off about this is that he's talking to a seventeen year old who has nine years of experience with writing. Does that mean that I believe that my experience with writing doesn't mean that I should pursue to learn all that I can about writing and become better at it, learning what works and what doesn't work? Absolutely not! Many artists like writers, directors, and the like, are constantly learning how to develop their craft. As a writer, you should strive to become better with writing each day, which is what I strive to do myself. Experience is just one thing that can help you become a better writer. _

_Vince: You have a _horrible _psychologist who evidently does not read many books. There are books that I have read that are made for teenagers that are ten times as bad as your story is. Again, you shouldn't have thrown the story away. You a great writer! _

_CB: Congratulations, Theodore. You have an asshole for a psychologist. _

_Theodore: He says that my problem is that I get lost in "fantasy land" and that I can't tell the difference between fiction and reality. _

_Vince: Well, duh! That's what writing is, sort of. You become more creative because you can put your feelings into the book. He has probably only written psychology books or whatever. Nothing in works of fiction. _And how dare he compare you with Edgar Allan Poe! _I can't think of any one writer off the top of my head who is better than Edgar Allan Poe. Don't listen to him! He is just trying to get inside your head! _

_Omar: I have to say, your psychologist needs to pull his head out of his ass. As for comparing you to Edgar Allan Poe, I have to agree with Vince. There are more better writers out there than him, even though I do like some of Mr. Poe's work. Don't listen to the quack who calls himself a psychologist. Follow your heart and continue to write. You'll always have people that are always critics and haters, in my opinion, that will be telling you to give up because you have no clue what you're doing. Fuck what they say, man. As long as you feel good about what you're doing, continue doing it. _

When he thought of Bruce Fayne, he felt his temper rise. The psychologist had had the nerve to tell him that he knew nothing about writing and that he had a lot to learn about writing if he wished to become a novelist when he graduated from college. The chipmunk had been writing for nine years and he'd learned a lot about writing over the years. He recalled something Bruce had told him during their last therapy session: "People like you, Theodore, make me laugh. You believe you're good at writing when you're really not because you don't know the first thing about it." He felt his temper rise further when he recalled this statement and he suddenly had the urge to punch Mr. Dempsey in the face.

"According to your fifth period teacher," Mr. Wilson said, "you weren't in her class when you were supposed to be."

"My guidance counselor called him and told him where I'd be," Theodore explained, trying his best to remain calm.

"We spoke with your guidance counselor and she says that she was never told to call your fifth period teacher," Mr. Dempsey declared as he began to read the topic titled "My Weekend." He clicked on the "X" button at the top of the screen, bringing him back to the document, which also vanished as soon as he clicked on the "X" button. He clicked on the option "don't save" when a message asked him if he wanted to save the recent changes that had been made to the document. He jerked the flash drive out of the computer and gave it to Theodore, glaring down at the chubby chipmunk as he rose from the chair. "Come with us, Theodore. You're in big trouble."

With his temper flaring, Theodore followed the two men to the main office. He was led down the same hallway that led to Mr. Dempsey's office, but he was taken to Ms. Hood's office.

"We found him," Mr. Dempsey announced as the three of them entered the room. "He was in the computer lab, just like last time."

Theodore sat down across from Ms. Hood at her desk, setting his backpack down by the chair. His backpack was snatched up by Mr. Dempsey. He grabbed the bottom of it and pulled, trying to cause Mr. Dempsey to let go. His hand was forcefully pulled off of the backpack, causing him to let go of it. He watched as Mr. Dempsey began to look through his backpack, pulling out his notebooks, binders, and anything else that he could find in the pockets of the chipmunk's backpack. This only served to anger Theodore further. He didn't care who Mr. Dempsey was. The vice principal had no right to suddenly snatch his belongings and begin looking through them like they belonged to him.

"Theodore, do you happen to suffer from an unknown mental illness that causes you to forget things as soon as you hear them?" Ms. Hood asked.

Theodore shook his head. _That's called short-term memory loss, you bimbo. _

"Funny," Ms. Hood said. "Do you remember how you were told two days ago that you were not allowed to be on the computer without supervision?"

Theodore nodded. _The chubby chipmunk glared at his principal and said, "There was a teacher in the computer lab. If she didn't know what she was supposed to do, then that's your fault, not mine!" _

Ms. Hood sneered at him. "Do you know what a bind you've put me in?"

_Theodore scowled at her and stood up. "Excuse me? Let's talk about _you've _done. You've taken a simple story and you've completely trashed it, all to make yourself look good and make me look like the bad guy. I am so fed up with you and this whole bloody school! I can't wait until I graduate!" _As this imaginary scene floated through Theodore's mind, he recalled writing something identical on his topic "My Weekned." He had written, "I cannot wait to graduate from high school so I can live my own life." He was eager to get out on his own and do whatever he wanted without the consequence of facing ridicule or getting in trouble. Of course, he wouldn't do anything illegal. All he would do was post his stories back online and continue to write fanfiction for as long as he lived while writing novels to pay bills and make a decent living for himself.

Ms. Hood turned to Mr. Dempsey and pointed to Theodore with a finger. "Was he on the Internet?"

Mr. Dempsey nodded. "Yes, he was."

"Pull up the history on the computer he was on and bring whatever you find back to me," Ms. Hood instructed.

Mr. Dempsey nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him as he went down the hall back to the main office.

Ms. Hood turned back to Theodore. "You know you're in trouble, right? You may be facing expulsion for this." She turned to the belongings of Theodore's that rested on her desk and went to pick up a notebook. When Theodore attempted to take it from her, she tightly gripped his hand and twisted it, ceasing any further activity from him. She began reading his latest story while he rubbed his sore hand.

The chubby chipmunk's latest story was titled _My Brother's Keeper_ and was about Colin being kidnapped by a group of intellectuals who were a part of a secret society known as the Society of Zion. Upon his rescue and safe return home, Colin struggled to get his life back in order. While the chipmunk had only written part of the first chapter, he had the whole story stored in his brain and his hand was ready to transfer the words from his brain onto the papers in his notebook.

Ms. Hood squinted as she struggled to read Theodore's tiny handwriting. She presented the notebook to Theodore and pointed to a word that was scribbled on the page. "What does this say? Are they talking about sucking on each other's . . . Theodore, I can't read this. Would you mind reading this out loud to me?"

Theodore shook his head. It was none of her business what he wrote. What he wrote was his own personal business and no one else's. He was the one who chose who got to read his stories and who didn't. Since apparently the faculty and staff of Warren Central High School couldn't read a fictional story without taking it too seriously, he would no longer allow anyone within the walls of Warren Central High School to read any of his stories if all they were going to do was report him to the office and get him in trouble.

Ms. Hood's reading of Theodore's latest novel was interrupted by Mr. Dempsey walking in the room with a stack of papers that he handed to her. She set the notebook down and began looking through the papers to discover that Mr. Dempsey had printed off Theodore's topic "My Weekend." She looked up at Theodore. "I see you like to gossip." Her gaze fell back to the papers as she continued to read.

Mr. Dempsey picked up the telephone that rested on Ms. Hood's desk and dialed a number. The vice principal put the phone to his ear and waited. After several rings and a response from the person on the other line, he said, "Mr. Seville, we have a situation here at the school. It seems that your son Theodore skipped class to get on the Internet. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. We'll be waiting in Ms. Hood's office." He put the phone back down on the receiver and leaned against the file cabinet behind Ms. Hood's desk with his arms crossed and one ankle crossed over the other. He peered at Theodore past Ms. Hood's shoulder.

Dave walked in Ms. Hood's office several minutes later looking angry. He stood by Theodore and scowled at the principal and vice principal. "What's going on now?"

"Like I told you on the phone, Mr. Seville," Mr. Dempsey said, "Theodore supposedly skipped class so he could get on the Internet on a computer here at school."

"Was there someone present in the room with Theodore?' Dave asked.

"Yes, there was," Theodore answered, "but apparently, no one has notified any of the faculty and staff members about the situation."

"Son," Mr. Dempsey said to the chubby chipmunk, "I suggest you stay out of this. You're already in enough trouble as it is. Your best bet is to keep your mouth shut."

Dave looked back down at Theodore. "So you mean to tell me, Theodore, that no one other than these three right here," he pointed to Ms. Hood, Mr. Dempsey, and Mr. Wilson, "are the only ones who know that you're supposed to be monitored while on the computer."

"Apparently so," Theodore replied.

Dave looked up at Ms. Hood and the two men. "You've had two days and you haven't even notified the school about the conditions of Theodore returning to school?"

"I went to the computer lab to finish my story for English," Theodore explained, "and I had permission from my guidance counselor."

"No, you didn't," Mr. Wilson said.

"Mr. Seville, we spoke to Theodore's guidance counselor ourselves and she assured us that she did not call any of Theodore's teacher and told them that he was in the computer lab," Mr. Dempsey said.

"But I had her written permission to be in there," Theodore insisted.

Mr. Dempsey shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You cannot be in any other part of the school unless you have the written permission of your teacher."

"Theodore, were you typing your paper when they came and got you?" Dave asked.

"There was a document open on the computer screen when we walked in the computer lab," Mr. Dempsey told him, "but I deleted it."

"Which means I'm going to have to retype the ending to my story all over again," Theodore complained.

Mr. Dempsey shook his head. "No, you won't, 'cause you're expelled."

"I'll be the judge of that," Ms. Hood spoke up. "Your son wasn't busy typing a story, Mr. Seville. He was busy gossiping with some strangers online. Apparently, Theodore has created some website." She handed the papers to Dave and waited quietly as he read them.

"First of all," Dave pointed out, "it's not gossiping if you're trying to get help with a problem you have. Third, Theodore knows nothing about creating websites. This website was created by USA Patriot."

Ms. Hood's face contorted into an expression of confusion. "Who's that?"

"See, that's the problem with this school," Theodore said. "You people don't bother to get your facts right."

Dave nodded in agreement. "Just like you falsely accused my son of stealing another boy's yearbook last year simply because the yearbook was in his backpack."

"Theodore, you're suspended," Ms. Hood stated. "I'm tired of hearing the both of you. You can both go now."

"Gladly," Theodore said. He was so excited about leaving school that he scooped up his things and put them in his backpack and led Dave out the door, forgetting that Ms. Hood still had his notebooks.

"You're not going back to that school, Theodore," Dave announced on the drive home. "I don't care what I have to do, I will get you transferred to a new school."

Theodore turned his gaze from the window to his father. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. No son of mine is going to pushed around like this. I'm fed up with it."

"As am I." He returned his gaze back to the scenery that was zooming past him as the car sped down the road, heading for their home. The only good thing about being suspended was that he'd get the chance to do some more writing. It wasn't until he thought of this that he realized that he didn't have his notebooks with him. He looked over at Dave. "She still has my notebooks!"

Dave stopped at a red light and waited patiently for the light to turn to green. "She does, doesn't she? We'll have to get them back from her somehow. Those notebooks belong to you, not her." He steered the steering wheel to the left as he accelerated, starting down the road.

The whole incident reminded Theodore of an incident that had happened to him back in the fourth grade.

_The school bell rang, dismissing the students to their next class. Theodore gathered his things and walked over to Ms. Rutledge's desk. He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Ms. Rutledge?" _

_She looked up at him. "What?" _

"_Could I have an extension on my report? I'm having some trouble getting it done, seeing as how I don't have Internet at home and all?" _

_She sighed and shook her head. "Is it really that hard to check out some books at the library, Theodore?" _

"_Come on. Please?" _

_She sighed once again and rubbed at a temple. "Fine. You can go to the computer to do your research. If I have time, I'll notify Ms. Bunnell about where you are. Go." _

_He beamed at her. "Thanks!" He dashed out of the room and down the hall towards the computer lab. _

_An hour or so later, Theodore walked into Ms. Bunnell's classroom. _

"_There he is, Ms. Bunnell," Tatum Tyree called to the blond-haired teacher. _

"_Theodore Seville, get over here," Ms. Bunnell said._

_Theodore walked over to her desk. "Yes?" _

"_Why weren't you at lunch?" she asked. _

_Theodore said nothing. _

_She pounded the desk with her fist and glared at him. Through gritted teeth she ordered, "Go get your lunch now!" _

_Afte the day was over, Ms. Bunnell had followed Theodore outside to Dave's car. She handed Dave a detention slip and explained the situation. "Your son Theodore decided that he would go to the computer lab today, even after being told no. He will be serving detention with me all week next week. No questions. No 'ifs,' 'ands,' or 'buts.' Understood?" _

"_Well, I, uh . . ." Dave stammered. _

"_Very good," Ms. Bunnell said. She glared at Theodore. "I'll be seeing you in detention starting on Monday, Theodore. Have a nice weekend." She walked off without another word. _


	6. Meeting with Angela Lawler

Chapter 6: Meeting with Angela Lawler

While Alvin and Simon went to school and attempted not to go off at Ms. Hood or the vice principals, Theodore stayed at home with Dave. The two of them rarely saw each other throughout the day since they were both too busy doing separate activities. While Dave paid bills, Theodore was in his room either reading a book or writing a new story. It was only during mealtimes that they saw each other, and even these moments were exchanged with little to no conversation. They both seemed to know what the other was thinking. They were both contemplating whether or not to sue the school for harassment.

When Theodore expressed his views on going to therapy, Dave knew that the chipmunk didn't enjoy it and wanted to quit going. Sadly, they couldn't do so since the school felt that therapy sessions were the best solution to help Theodore deal with his "issues." Unfortunately, Theodore had no issues to overcome. During his therapy sessions, he often found himself silently staring back at his therapist, not saying a word, with only the constant _tick-tock _of the clock occupying any noise whatsoever, counting down the minutes before Dave came to pick him up. Luckily, his father never bothered to ask him how his therapy sessions had went since he knew that his son didn't talk to his therapist. He knew that his son felt that there was nothing to talk about. Sadly, they had eighteen months of therapy to go through before Theodore could stop going. His therapy sessions would come to an end in August of 2010, which seemed like a long way away for not only Theodore, but also for Dave.

Once again, Theodore was required to attend another meeting with the school board to determine whether or not he would be expelled. The meeting was scheduled for February the twenty-seventh, one week from the incident that had occurred at school. Theodore couldn't help but wonder, _Why does everything with this school have to be done on a Friday? _He was relieved that Dave would be alongside him in his battle with the school board, but was saddened by the fact that Alvin and Simon would not be attending the meeting under Dave's orders. He appreciated the fact that they wanted to be with him and help him, but he knew that their education was also important and that they couldn't afford to miss anymore school days.

Theodore noticed that Tim Murley appeared to be in a foul mood when he walked in the building of the school board with Dave beside him. He followed Tim to the same conference room that they'd gone in once before with Dave behind him. They took their seats.

"Let's make this quick," Ms. Hood suggested. "I have to get to school."

Theodore checked his watch and noticed that it was a quarter to eight. He yawned, wishing that they could've had the meeting later on in the day. At least that way he would've had more time to sleep.

"The first time we had a meeting like this," Tim said, "I had sympathy for Theodore. I was like, 'okay, he made a mistake. No big deal.' Now, however, I have no sympathy for him at all."

_"Hey, that's totally fine," Theodore replied, "'cause I don't want nor do I need your sympathy." _

"Theodore," Ms. Hood said, "can you explain to us why you broke the rules even after we told you not to?"

_"I didn't," Theodore yelled. "You were the idiots who didn't do what you were supposed to." _

"You deliberately violated the contract that you signed last week," Tim declared. "Please humor us as to explaining why you did."

"Because I didn't fully understand what the problem was," Theodore stated.

"Let me put it in terms that you can understand," Tim offered, " and when I ask you a question, I expect a yes or a no answer. Don't give me any of that silent bullshit. Understand?"

Theodore nodded.

Tim continued. "If we send you back to school and you choose to break the rules again, you will not be back in here. Do you understand that? You will not be back in here. Your ass will be in a juvenile detention center. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," Theodore replied.

Tim nodded. "Good. Wait here while we come up with a solution.' He rose from his chair and left the room with Ms. Hood following him, leaving Theodore alone with his father.

Dave leaned toward his son and whispered, "Don't send him a hateful email just because he yelled at you."

Tim and Ms. Hood returned after a few minutes and took their seats.

"We have decided to send you to an alternate school," Tim told Theodore, "a school for troubled youth. You will spend the rest of your school year there. If you write a statement at the end of the school year stating that what you did was wrong and that you'll behave yourself, we'll see about you returning to school in September for your junior year."

"Okay," Theodore agreed.

"I apologize that you had to come under these circumstances," Tim told Dave. "I better not see you in here again, Theodore. If you want to go back to school, what do you have to do?"

"Follow the rules," Theodore replied.

Tim nodded. "Exactly. You may go now."

Theodore and Dave left the room.

After leaving the building, he took Theodore to Dunkin' Donuts in hopes that it would cheer him up, but to no avail. He bought Theodore a bag of donuts and a cup of coffee. The chubby chipmunk expressed his gratitude with a simple "thank you" but ate very little and didn't drink any of his coffee.

Upon arriving at home, Theodore went upstairs to take a nap without saying another word to his father.

For the next two weeks, Theodore stayed at home. On the last weekend of February, Theodore received a letter from the school that he would be attending for the rest of the school year. Enclosed with the letter was a list of the rules and regulations of the school, as well as the proper attire he would have to wear while he attended the school: a white short-sleeve dress shirt, beige pants, a belt, white or black socks, and black or brown dress shoes.

As he read the description of the clothes that he would have to wear, he cringed. He didn't think he would look very good in them. He hated having to dress up, mainly because he didn't look good wearing a suit, and neither did his brothers. He had hoped that he would be allowed to wear tennis shoes.

Based on the rules and regulations of the school, he realized that the school that he would be attending was a lot more strict than his former school. For example, before he could use the computers at the school, he would need the written permission of his father. Once he got on the computers, he was only allowed to do his schoolwork and nothing else. All other websites besides the one that had his schoolwork on it were blocked, which was just as well since Internet access was strictly limited, so he wouldn't be able to check his e-mail. He imagined that by now his e-mail inbox was stuffed to the max with messages from his fans regarding his deleted stories.

He read the letter carefully, making sure that he understood everything before he began his schooling at his new school:

_Dear Mr. Theodore Seville, _

_We are excited to meet you here at 11th Street Alternate School. We hope to make your experience here as less painful as possible and more enjoyable while you are here. We understand that you may have made some mistakes in the past, but that does not necessarily mean that your bad mistakes make you a bad kid. We hope that while you are here we can get to know you better and help you improve your behavior and help you to get back on the right path in your life. _

_You are scheduled to meet with us on March the second so you can meet the staff of 11th Street Alternate School and get comfortable with them. You are scheduled to start your schooling the following day, on Tuesday the third of March. Be at the school at exactly 7:30 A.M., not one minute later. We feel that if all the students get here on time it avoids the hassle of having to wait for tardy students. Breakfast is served at 7:30 and school starts at 8:00. Please note that while you are here that you must wear a specific type of clothing: a white short-sleeve dress shirt, beige pants with a belt, dress socks, and dress shoes. Again, we look forward to meeting you and interacting with you throughout the next three months. _

_Signed, _

_The faculty & staff of 11th Street Alternate School _

Theodore folded the piece of paper and set it in the pile of paper that contained the list of rules and regulations at 11th Street Alternate School and the attire that he would be wearing for the next three months. At least he would get his clothes washed on the weekends. If Dave wasn't around, then he could always rely on Simon to do it for him (he didn't trust Alvin when it came to doing laundry). If, for some odd reason, Simon wasn't around, then he could perhaps teach himself how to do laundry. It was as simple as reading the instructions on the detergent bottle.

On Sunday, March the first, Dave took Theodore to JC Penney to get his clothes with Alvin and Simon in tow. Since it was near lunchtime, the two older chipmunks decided to tag along in hopes of getting fed before having to do any clothes shopping. They found Theodore's clothes in the men's section of the clothing store. When they got to the beige pants, they had difficulty deciding which shade of beige to get.

"Did the letter specify which shade of beige the pants had to be?" Simon asked as he gently tugged at the pants leg of a pair of light beige pants.

Theodore shook his head as he observed the different shades of beige pants with his father and brothers. "No, not really. The letter just said to wear a pair of beige pants with a belt. Hmm." He reached forward and took out a pair of dark beige pants and showed them to his family. "What about these?"

"How much are they?" Dave inquired. He hoped that shopping for Theodore's school clothes wouldn't be too expensive. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to spend anywhere above thirty dollars.

Theodore looked at the price tag attached to the pants, then looked up at his father. "Four dollars."

Dave nodded. "Okay, let's see. We've got the dress shirt, the beige pants. All that's left is the belt, the socks, and the shoes." He led his boys over to the section of the clothing store that concerned dress clothes. Finding the right belt and socks was easy. It was finding the right pair of shoes that was the problem. Due to the size of his feet, it was hard for Theodore to find shoes in his size.

"I have a feeling we won't be eating for awhile," Simon told Alvin. "Might as well sit down." He sat down on a nearby bench, then bent his right leg and crossed it over his left and crossed his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alvin sit down beside him and repeat the sitting position he was in. He chuckled and shook his head.

After an hour of searching, Dave and Theodore found a pair of dress shoes in Theodore's size: five and a half. They were a pair of brown dress shoes with laces. Thankfully for Dave, they were cheap: fifteen dollars. With Theodore's dress clothes in a JC Penney bag, Dave walked over to his other two sons with Theodore. "Okay, who's ready for some lunch?"

Alvin and Simon were more than happy to lead the way from the clothing store to the food court, passing several stores along the way, including FYE and Game Stop, the stores that Theodore and Alvin could be found in most of the time. Other times, Theodore could be found in the Lifeway Christian Bookstore. Since they'd been in Greenwood Mall so often, they knew exactly where to go and which turns to take. After they finally stumbled upon the food court, their father gave each of them ten dollars, which he hoped would be more than enough to pay for their meals, then wandered off to a nearby restaurant to buy his own meal.

Theodore followed Alvin and Simon over to Wendy's. They stood behind a very tanned person whose skin looked more red than white due to the fact that he tanned so much. The man had brown hair with blond highlights that fell past his shoulders and blue eyes, as well as a goatee that was brown and had blond highlights. The man wore lots of jewelry that included two gold earrings, several golden bracelets, and a golden ring on almost every finger. The man also had his tongue pierced, which made it difficult to understand him when he spoke. He also had several tattoos on his arms and legs. Standing beside him was a woman in her mid-sixties. Her hair was slightly gray. She wore glasses that had large lenses that sheltered her green eyes. She was fairly tall.

Theodore nudged Alvin in the ribs and pointed to the man in front of them. He whispered in Alvin's ear, "Looks like someone could use a makeover." With his older brother, the chipmunk laughed, but stopped abruptly when he received an angry look from Simon.

"Enjoy freedom while it lasts, Theodore," Simon advised his younger brother, "because starting on Tuesday, you won't have very much of it left."

"Don't remind me," Theodore groaned. He hated the fact that Simon kept his laptop on his person at all times to prevent him from getting on the Internet. While he was still allowed to play games on the PlayStation 3, he was monitored during such activity to make sure that he didn't go on the Internet. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to since Simon had hidden the broadband modem used to connect the PlayStation 3 to the Internet. At night, Simon locked away the PlayStation 3 in the crawl space underneath the stairs for fear that he would get up in the middle of the night and use the Internet on either his computer or the PlayStation. It was for this reason, and Theodore hated him for it, that Simon kept his laptop underneath his pillow as he slept.

Alvin put a comforting arm around his younger brother. "Don't worry, Theoodre. It's only three months, then this will all be over. Pretty soon, you'll be able to wake up in the morning and think back on this whole experience as a dream, then you'll maybe laugh about it."

"I'm laughing about it already because of how ridiculous this whole situation is," Theodore grumbled.

"Look, Theodore, I know you're upset," Simon said. "Believe me, I'd be pissed off too. You have to play by their rules, though. If you don't, you'll only get in deeper trouble than you are. You're already having to go to therapy. Just be grateful that you're not having to face jail time for this."

"Did you know they actually got Officer Woodward involved in this whole thing?" Theodore asked. "I kid you not."

"Yeah, I know," Simon agreed. "I read the papers. I did happen to read a few of your stories before deleting them and I couldn't find any reason to delete them. You're almost an adult. It's perfectly normal that you would write adult material."

"Thank you," Theodore cried. He stepped toward the counter with Alvin and Simon and ordered his food. A question popped into his head that wouldn't allow him to pass up the opportunity to ask it to his brothers. "How do you guys feel about me using animals as characters?"

Simon shrugged, his hands stuffed in the pocket of his sweater. "I don't have a problem with it. Do whatever you're comfortable with doing. Don't let people try to convince you that using animals is wrong. I mean, look at all the Pixar films. I think only one of their films uses humans as the main characters, and that was _The Incredibles_. Every other one of their films either uses inanimate objects, such as cars or toys, or animals."

Alvin nodded in agreement. "Not to mention that all of them have gotten positive reviews."

The thought of sueing the school for harassment crept into his mind and he immediately decided against it. There was no point in performing such an act. For one thing, the school board was more powerful than he was. Secondly, they would most likely hire some powerful lawyers, causing them to win the case even if the court was presented with evidence that went against their claim that they had not harassed the chubby chipmunk at all, but had been investing in the chipmunk's best interest, even if it went as far as suspending him and sending him to an alternate school for the remainder of the school year.

The three chipmunks got their food and walked over to a nearby table where Dave was sitting eating his own meal. The three of them sat across from him, passing out their food to each other and beginning to eat in silence. Given the recent events that had taken hold upon their family, they realized that they were all still pretty steamed about Theodore being suspended over something as simple as a fictional story, and Dave, Simon, and Alvin knew that Theoodore was still very upset about having all of his stories deleted from the website, leaving him to rewrite the stories and post them on the site all over again.

Theodore's family attempted to rekindle the chubby's chipmunk love of writing, but failed to do so. The chipmunk stated that if his writing fictional stories was going to get him into trouble, then he wanted nothing to do with writing ever again, at least not until he graduated from high school. At least then he would be able to post his stories back online and hopefully get one of his novels published.

Dave was successful in getting Theodore's notebook back from Ms. Hood since he longed to read what the chipmunk had written. Upon reading the first chapter of the chipmunk's novel titled _My Brother's Keeper _he encouraged the chipmunk to continue the book since he wanted to find out what happened next. Theodore agreed to the occasion, but only because Dave had asked him to do so and he was willing to continue writing his book for Dave. Hoping for some more encouragement, he allowed his brothers to read his book as well, giving them a new printed chapter as soon as he was done with it. Luckily, his writing kept him busy until Monday at eleven o' clock in the morning. Unfortunately, he was reluctant to go since he was in the middle of a chapter. When Dave suggested that he take his notebook and pen with him so he had something to do along the way, he agreed, though writing while in a moving vehicle was difficult and he often was faced with the hassle of having to scribble out a word he had messed up and having to rewrite it above the scribble.

11th Street Alternate School was a one-story brick building with wooden floors and cement block walls. While Alvin and Simon would have preferred going with the chipmunk for support, Dave had suggested that the two of them go to school instead, and they reluctantly agreed to do so. Upon entering the structure, they went up the small set of wooden stairs, their shoes pounding against the wooden floor as they went. They passed an office on their left and were nearly knocked over as the door to the office was suddenly swung open, allowing a tall, blond-haired woman to step out and greet them.

"Hello," she said sweetly, shaking Dave's hand and Theodore's hand. "I'm Angela Lawler, the principal here at 11th Street Alternate School." She knelt down so that she was eye-level with Theodore and smiled at the chipmunk. "You must be Theodore."

Theodore nodded and tightly gripped his father's hand. As he stared at the woman in front of him, he couldn't help but think, _Boy, ti's a shame Alvin isn't here. He would've loved to meet you, Angela. _

"Ms. Hood has told me all about you," Angela continued, smiling at the chubby chipmunk. She stood up, making her knees pop in the process. "Well, shall we? Gentlemen, if you'll follow me into this room, please." She led them forward, heading toward a room that had its door open. She explained that the room they were entering was the art room, where the students did artwork on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She sat down at a wooden table across from Dave and Theodore and folded her hands on top of it. "I'm sure by now you have received the rules and regulations of this school, Theodore."

"Yes, that's right," Theodore told her. He set his notebook and pen on the table beside him. He noticed that Angela's eyes drifted over to the two items and he suddenly had the urge to protect his belongings for fear that he would end up getting them taken away. For some odd reason, however, he trusted Angela and made no move whatsoever to protect his things.

"I'd just like to add a few things," Angela said. "First of all, be very careful about what you say to a teacher. We're not very lenient when it comes to hate talk. We take things very seriously. If you were to say something along the lines of, "I'm going to kill you," we would have no choice but to assume that you actually intend on killing a person."

Theodore blinked. Surely she couldn't be serious, could she? Still, he decided not to question her and allowed her to keep going.

"Secondly," Angela went on, "I have heard that you like to write and what you like to write about. Let me tell you right now: such material will not be tolerated in here. If we catch you writing inappropriate material, you will be given a warning, followed by a detention. Can I trust you to write things that are appropriate?"

Theodore nodded.

Angela smiled. "Good. It should be noted that you won't have the opportunity to write anything inappropriate since you will be given a list of things to write. While here, you will be working on your portfolio. You will write essays, persuasive essays, short stories, poems, scripts, and personal narratives."

Theodore wasn't very good at writing nonfiction. Fiction was really what he was good at. He was good at using his imagination and coming up with creative stories. When it came to writing nonfiction, he could receive a distinguished on a short story, but would receive a novice on a nonfiction piece. Since he had received a novice on his portfolio writing during the seventh grade, he had been trying his best to improve his writing skills in the nonfiction genre. He hoped that while he was at 11th Street Alternate School he would still be able to write his fiction pieces without having someone look over his shoulder to make sure that what he was writing was appropriate.

"Breakfast is served at seven-thirty, as you may already know," Angela added. "Lunch is served at twelve-thirty, during your fourth class of the day. You will not be allowed to bring your own breakfast or lunch since this would cause the other students to request the same prviliges. You must be on task at all times. If you are caught not doing your work, you will be given a warning."

Theodore nodded that he understood.

Angela held up a green folder that had a grid on it. The print above the grid was small, so neither Dave nor Theodore could probably read the words. "You will be given one of these when you start here tomorrow. If you behave yourself, you earn points. If you misbehave, you lose points. If you earn enough points, you will get a reward for your hard work and good behavior. As you already know, school starts at seven-thirty in the morning and ends at three o' clock. You may do your writing with only one condition: you let me read what you write."

Theodore thought about the idea for a moment or two. Considering the fact that he wrote about a skunk and raccoon in a gay relationship, he wasn't too thrilled about letting his new principal read his writings. He supposed that he could stop such writing for three months, just long enough for him to not get himself in any further trouble. He gave Angela a nod, agreeing that he would allow her to read his writings when he was finished with them. Of course, just because he was slightly changing his writings didn't mean that he would abandon his style of writing entirely. He would still write about Erik and Colin and their friends and their many adventures together.

Angela grinned at him. "Great. Well, I suppose that's all I have to tell you. Welcome to 11th Street Alternate School, Theodore. I look forward to working with you for the next three months."

_You might, _Theodore thought, _but I'm not. I just want to hurry up and get through the next three months so I can get on with my life. _With his notebook tucked under his arm and his pen tightly clutched in the other, the chubby chipmunk followed his father out of the building and back to the car that was parked on the curb in front of the front entrance to the school.

"You have a therapy session today with Ashley," Dave reminded Theodore. Ashley was Theodore's new therapist. She was a tall woman with long blond hair and gray eyes. While she was nice, Theodore was still refusing to speak with her about any personal matters. He heard his son groan in protest and smile. "Don't worry, it's not until one. Before we do that, why don't you and me stop and get a bite to eat?"

The topic of lunch brightened Theodore's spirits. Along the way to Burger King, he continued to write his novel. He was at the scene where Colin and the other kidnapped children were being returned to their families. Since the raccoon had been gone for the past five years, the chipmunk wanted the scene to be a very emotional experience for Colin, his friends, and the families involved, including the two detectives who had risked their lives to bring the children back to their families. When he looked up, he realized that Dave had parked the car in the parking lot of Burger King. He closed his notebook and stuck his pen in the wire that coiled through the holes of the notebook. Having finished the scene with Colin showering at his home, there was no need for him to press onward with his writing. Besides, he was hungry and he supposed that he could stop writing long enough to get something to eat.

Eating helped him get his mind off things, such as having to go to a new school the following day and having to attend a therapy session in two hours that would last at least an hour. When he thought about how pointless it was to go talk to Ashely, he wondered why he was even bothering going in the first place. He knew for a fact that Dave didn't like being at therapy anymore than he did. Like him, his father thought that therapy was a completely pointless ritual used only for people with real mental problems. He was not one of them. Sadly, since it was required for him to go to therapy, he supposed that he might as well put on a smile and pretend that he was having the time of his life talking about his issues and whatnot.

Dave parked his car in a parking spot at the same building that he and Theodore had been to several times before. With his son walking alongside him, he entered the building, told the receptionist what they were there for, then quietly sat down by his son as the chubby chipmunk began looking through a _Highlights _magazine.

Dave knew that Theodore didn't want to be at therpay anymore than he did, and had he had a choice, he would've chosen to take Theodore out of it. There was nothing wrong with his child. His child was not mentally disturbed, as the school board suspected him to be. Still, they could hope that one day they would both be able to wake up and think of it all as just a horrible nightmare and erase the events from their memories.

The door to their left opened and a tall white woman with blond hair and gray eyes stepped into the room. "Are you two ready to come back?" she asked Dave and Theodore.

Sighing, Theodore set the magazine aside and led his father into Ashley's office. He sat in an armchair while Dave sat at a sofa and Ashley sat in a wheeled chair positioned in front of her desk. A coffee table was placed in front of the sofa with a vase of flowers in the center of it. A ticking clock was attached to the wall that kept attracting Theodore's attention as he anticipated the moment when his session would end and he could go home. At least going back to school would give him something to get his mind off having to go to therapy.

"So," Ashley said, "how are we feeling today?"

Theodore shrugged as his father and therapist eyed him. "Okay, I guess." Once again, his eyes drifted over to the clock. Only two minutes had passed. Fifty-eight minutes left to go.

Throughout the session, Theodore was asked several questions and he answered them with a simple yes or no, not going into details.

Ashley turned momentarily, facing her desk with her back to the two men. She pulled out a stack of papers from a folder and turned to Theodore. "Let's talk about why you're here in the first place, Theodore." She held up the stack of papers so he could view them. From what he could see, they were pages from a story that he had written a few years ago. "Let's talk about the stories."

Theodore groaned. The story that his therapist held in her hands was titled _Someone Save Me_, the story he had written a few years ago and, more importantly, a story that had recently been deleted from his account on the website. The story was yet another story featuring Erik and Colin, this one telling the tale of Erik becoming depressed once Colin began dating. The fat skunk's depression only worsened when his best friend decided to get married. Unknown to Colin and Brenda, Colin's wife, the skunk had secret feelings for Colin. With his depression over not being able to spend time with Colin came suicidal thoughts that plagued Erik's mind. Over time, the skunk began to resent Brenda for stealing his secret love, going as far as attacking the opossum's vehicle with a baseball bat. Eventually, the skunk was placed in a mental institution to help him with his mental health. It was in this place that Erik finally confessed his secret love for Colin to the raccoon, and Colin replied that he loved Erik in a platonic way, only as a friend, not as a lover, which did nothing to lift Erik's spirits. If anything, it only depressed him further, leading to him ultimately committing suicide.

One review for _Someone Save Me_ stated, "I'm starting to see a pattern in your stories. It seems that every story you post on here ends with someone-usually the main character-dying. Don't get me wrong. I love your stories. It's just that I would advise you to try your best to come up with new ways to end your stories instead of havng one of the characters die because, to be honest, it's starting to get old. All the best. I look forward to reading more stories from you." Since then, Theodore had indeed tried ending some of his stories on a more positive note instead of a depressing one. This not only made him happy about his stories, but also made his fans happy as well.

As he observed the coffee-stained pages of his story, Theodore wondered how his therapist had managed to get a copy of it in her possession. He remembered he had thrown away the notebook containing the story (it wasn't a very long piece, roughly eighty-five pages in length) along with his novel _The Adventures of Erik and Colin_. He decided that it wasn't important and didn't bother to ask. Instead, he nodded his head at the appropriate times as Ashley talked, pretending like he actually gave a rat's rear end about anything she had to say when in reality he was thinking about new stories to write featuring his characters. He thought about writing a children's book series featuring his characters that taught life lessons, like the Marc Brown _Arthur _books that he'd read as a child.

His day-dreaming made the time go by faster. Before he knew it, his session was over and it was time for him to go home. He was only too happy to do so. He was standing by the passenger door as Dave shook Ashley's hand and walked out of the building to unlock the car.

"So, how do you feel about Ashley?" Dave asked on the ride home. "If you don't like her, we could always request a new one."

Theodore diverted his gaze away from his window and looked over at his father. "No," he objected, shaking his head. "I like her."

The whole incident with the school board reminded of him of something that had happened back when he was in the seventh grade. While working on his portfolio, he had printed off some cheats to a video game that Alvin had requested since his older brother rarely got the chance to get on the computer at school. Had Simon had a printer at home, the chipmunk would've done it himself. Of course, the chubby chipmunk was more than willing to go out of his way to get the cheats for Alvin. Unfortunately, Alvin never got them since Theodore was sent to the office for printing off material that wasn't school appropriate. The cheats had been taken by the principal and thrown in the trash and, just like when Ms. Hood had taken his notebooks, he hadn't gotten them back.

The same thing had occurred back when he'd been in fourth grade. Just like the recent events that had occurred, he had gone to the computer lab to do some schoolwork for another class with his teacher's permission. He ended up staying too long in the computer lab, causing him to miss his lunch period. His teacher had been furious with him for missing his English class and had given him a detention as a result.

It seemed to Theodore that he was constantly getting in trouble, no matter what grade he was in or how old he was. He had served detention at least three times in his life: once in the fourth grade and twice in the sixth grade.

When he'd been in the sixth grade, one black boy had accused the chubby chipmunk of calling him a racial slur, resulting in the chipmunk getting a detention. A few weeks later, he had gotten yet another detention when his teacher had accused him of making noise and disrupting the class when he hadn't been doing nothing but his schoolwork.

During that same year, his wood shop teacher had found a key in the room and had asked who it belonged to. It had looked similar to Theodore's house key. Since this was so, Theodore assumed that it was his and the wood shop teacher gave it to him. He trusted Simon to hold on to it for him, knowing that it would be in safe hands. A couple of weeks later, it was revealed that the key actually belonged to a girl who needed it to get into her mom's apartment. Sadly, Simon had forgotten that he'd left it in his sweater pocket and Dave had ended up washing it, causing the key to get stuck inside the washing machine, never to be seen again. Of course, his English teacher Ms. Dillard hadn't been happy upon hearing that Theodore had taken the key and accused him of stealing it.

Luckily at his elementary school, printing off materials, whether they were school appropriate or not, wasn't a problem. This was mainly due to the fact that there was rarely a teacher in the room. As long as his teacher knew where he was and what he was doing, there was no problem with him being in the computer lab without supervision. Besides, he was a good student who was very godly, so the idea of him looking at adult-oriented material on the Internet wasn't on anyone's mind. It was here that Theodore was allowed to print off cheats to video games upon Alvin's request with one of them being Alvin's favorite video game: _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_. Sadly, he was not allowed to print off such material in middle school or high school, at least not without facing the consequence of either getting detention or worse, suspension.

When Theodore and Dave walked in the Seville residence, Theodore found Simon sitting at the kitchen table talking to someone on the phone.

"He told his gym teacher that he had something to work on for another teacher, which was a flat-out lie." Simon said, not noticing his brother and father standing in the doorway. His head was tilted downward, his gaze fixed on his hand that rested on the table.

"Oh, come on," Theodore bellowed, walking in the room.

Startled, Simon's head jerked up to see his younger brother marching over to him. Based on the look of outrage on Theodore's face, Simon didn't think that the chubby chipmunk had anything nice to say.

Theodore snatched the phone out of Simon's hand and ended the call before slamming it down on the table and glaring at Simon.

"Theodore . . ." Dave began.

"I'm sorry, Dave," Theodore apologized, "but I am so fed up with people spreading all this crap about me." He jabbed a finger in Simon's chest. "For your information, I wasn't lying just to get out of class. I was in fact working on a short story for English. Get your facts right before you go shooting your mouth off."

Simon gently pushed Theodore's finger away. "Look, I'm just repeating what I was told by the office."

Theodore straightened up and folded his arms, the expression on his face the same. "Yeah, that's the problem with that school. They don't bother to get their facts right. They see someone with their head down, they automatically assume that they're either texting or jacking off. Like when they found Justin's yearbook in my backpack? They didn't bother to ask questions; they just automatically assumed that I stole it." He remembered when he'd finally gotten his yearbook, he'd been walking back to his class and one teacher had actually had the nerve to ask him whose yearbook he had. He had had the urge to slap the black woman across the face, but had resisted the urge to keep walking. He had replied sarcastically, "Gee, I don't know. I just bought it, so I guess that makes it mine, doesn't it?"

Dave cautiously made his way into the kitchen. "Look, Theodore, we all know how frustrating this is for you. We all know how you feel-"

"No, you don't," Theodore barked. His expression softened when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned his head to see Simon giving him a reassuring smile.

"It'll get better, don't worry," Simon encouraged him. "You'll see. Come June, you'll be lying on the beach with a hot dog."

Theodore smiled, enjoying the image in his head. He could clearly see himself lying on a lawn chair wearing nothing but a white T-shirt and a pair of swimming trunks with some sunscreen on his body and a small spot of the white substance on his nose with his eyes shielded from the rays of the sun by a pair of sunglasses that he wore. Dave was busy building a sand castle with Alvin while Simon was busy lying in a lawn chair beside him reading a book that compared the theory of evolution to creationism.

The chubby chipmunk nodded, agreeing with his older brother. "Yeah, maybe you're right." Feeling bad about going off on Simon, he departed from the room and went upstairs to the bedroom that he shared with his brothers to continue writing his novel.

He was nearing the end to his novel _My Brother's Keeper_. As soon as he was done with it, he would begin writing the sequel: _My Brother's Keeper: Between the Years_. He had gotten the title from Genesis 4:9. The second novel in the series would feature Colin finally getting the chance to take down the Society of Zion to avenge his brother, while the third novel, which he was planning on titling _Erik, We Hardly Knew You _would be about how Colin struggled to move on with his life without Erik. Each book had a different theme: the first one was about the importance of family, the second one was about the power of love, and the third one was about the power of friendship. While he was simply writing the books for fun, he did hope to get them published one day, when he had the money to do so. He'd heard that it wouldn't cost him anything to get his book published, but he just wanted to have plenty of money just in case a publishing company required him to pay a large fee to publish his books, and he was planning on letting his family and friends read them. He'd quickly learned not to trust teachers when it came to them reading his material since he knew that doing so would only get him in trouble and being that he was nearly an adult, he didn't need a police record, not at such an early age.

When dinnertime arrived, Theodore had completed the forty-eighth chapter to his novel and was planning on writing the first chapter to the second novel before going to bed. Of course, he would let his family and friends read the latest chapter so he could benefit from their advice and suggestions in hopes to better himself as a writer. Unlike what Belchic believed on Sparky's website, he actually took peoples' advice in order to better himself as a writer. He knew the best way to better himself as a writer was to simply ask God to lead him in his writing. He believed that doing so would cause him to become a better writer.

Since he was dreading the following day, Theodore didn't talk much during dinner. He mentioned that he had finally finished _My Brother's Keeper _and would soon get to work on writing _My Brother's Keeper: Between the Years_. His family's enthusiasm about reading the latest chapter of his book was enough to lift his spirits, but his good mood didn't last long when he remembered that he'd have to get up at seven o' clock tomorrow to go to school. No more sleeping in for him except for on the weekends.

Theodore finished brushing his teeth and walked down the hall, heading towards the bedroom that he shared with his brothers. He hoped to make a few new friends while he was at his new school. He would probably become good friends with the teachers most likely since he often found himself relating to them better than his peers, probably because his teachers were wiser than their students.


End file.
